Bleach: Memories of the Nevermore
by Lithius Osmius
Summary: A chance to escape all of the nightmares of the future, Ichigo takes it to rewrite the ending of his life. Now he's out on a mission to save everyone and maybe gain a second chance with the one he loves. Lots of pairings, AU
1. Nevermore Forevermore

Bleach: Memories of the Nevermore

_Bleach: Memories of the Nevermore_

_**Chapter 1- Nevermore Forevermore**_

He lamented, allowing his tears of sorrow to finally wash away the pain he had held for so long. Every nightmare he had experienced since God-knows-when slipped through the emotionless mask he wore, a mask that was colder than even the white one he put on whenever he stepped onto the battlefield. Not a tear had been shed those times, but now, he allowed himself to weep.

It was over, and he was the only one left standing. All of them had died and only his hunched, sorrowful figure was untouched on the battlefield.

Across from him lied the corpse of the former fifth captain of the Gotei Thirteen, Aizen Sosuke; a monster in the form of a human. Twin nodachi stuck out from his heart, one as black as the dark side of the moon and the other a beautiful cerulean blue, the color of the skies and the dreams he so missed. Its hilt was crafted in the shape of a highly elegant fishhook while a long flowing tassel held onto the end.

If _Tensa Zangetsu_ was the most powerful melee based zanpakuto ever, then the second one, the cerulean one, was the most outstanding elemental one. In its Bankai form, it was _Ranka Amemitsukai (Storm Flower Rain Angel)._ It was so powerful that even the long-dead First Division captain, Yamamoto-Genryusai, had feared it. While Genryusai's was fire-based, his was water-based, capable of creating tsunamis with one swing of the blade. It was beautiful, so much so that only Kuchiki Rukia's zanpakuto was the only one that outdid it in that department.

But it didn't matter to him at that moment. All of them… everyone he had called friend, everyone that he had cared so much and poured out his heart for… all of them had passed away into blissful oblivion, all because of the monster before him, the one that had killed his heart so very long ago. They had fought and had slowly been chiseled away like a rock that was continuously being pounded on by the ocean. Now he was the only one that was a reminder of a time when things had seemed so simple.

"Don't cry, Ichigo," a voice so soft that it almost sounded like a breath spoke to him. The owner of the angelic voice gently cupped his chin and lifted his eyes up. There before him stood the avatar of his second zanpakuto, _Amemitsukai._

Her name aptly described her. Flowing cerulean hair flowed like water in the wind while gentle silver eyes stared at his form. A moon-white dress covered her fragile body, only adding to her ethereal appearance. Around him ivory feathers gently flittered down to earth, disappearing once they touched the ground, but always leaving Ichigo with a sense of warmth that none of his comrades could ever provide him. No matter how he looked at her, though, _Amemitsukai_ always looked like the person that had given her to him, a representation of the love he had so painfully lost that day: Inoue Orihime.

Orihime had given her to him on the day she had died, created from the hairpins that had once been the center of her power, and the representation of a promise that she had made so long ago with her brother.

"Please… don't cry, Ichigo," she so softly told him again, shaking her head while a sorrowful look painted her alabaster face.

"There is nothing left for me to live for," he quietly told her as more tears collected in his eyes. Ichigo's sight fell to the ground below as more sorrow laced words rolled off of his tongue. "All of them are dead."

A sad smile crept onto _Amemitsukai's_ cherry lips. "It hurts me when you cry. When it rains in your mind, it pains me; when you are sad, so am I." Ichigo slowly returned his eyes to hers, taking comfort from her voice like a child would at the sound of a loved one. "Ichigo… when you hurt, you cry for more power and I give it to you because it makes my pain go away too." She kneeled down, leveling her eyes with Ichigo's as she began to caress his cheek. "It makes me happy when I can make the rain go away. So I will make the tears go away too."

"How?" whispered Ichigo, not helping it as all the pain he experienced throughout his life seeped through.

_Amemitsukai_ wiped away a tear from his cheek and then pressed her gentle hands against his battle-worn face. "I can bring them all back."

For the first time in so many long years, Ichigo looked at her with hope. Was there really a way to see his friends' smiling faces one more time? Could he really see the loving faces of his family once more? Maybe... just maybe… he could tell Orihime how he slowly fell in love with her.

"I was born from Orihime's power," the avatar told him. "I can reject what has happened; I can send you back in time. With this knowledge, maybe you can change the future, and then it would never have to rain again."

A second chance, a way to right all the wrongs he experienced, a path that may lead to salvation from the eternal torment that was loneliness; no more tears, no more bitterness, and no more nights of having to miss the one he so tenderly grasped for in his dreams.

_A way out._

"Tell me how," he whispered with hope staining his voice.

"Take my hand and repeat after me."

She fully stood and held out her hand for him to take. Ichigo grasped her thin hand and stood up, eyes burning with determination and the want to see the ones he had so dearly missed.

"_Nevermore and Forevermore… My tears and my sorrows I shall forget… My pains and my broken heart I leave behind… May my feet tread on the path to a new dawn… And may my eyes never look back… My memories… My future… I Reject."_

He repeated the words with fragile care, crying tears of hope and happiness that he was going to escape his nightmares. As soon as he finished the poem, _Amemitsukai_ disappeared and around him the world began to fade. Ichigo blinked his eyes and each time the world would change, blurring and becoming something related to a watercolor picture that had yet to take shape. Finally, after one final blink, everything took shape.

"Thank you so much," the voice of a young girl reached his ears. He turned to the originator to see the ghost of a young girl that had yet to experience Soul Burial. "I wish those three didn't spill my flowers."

It was then that he recognized the dead girl as the one he had met on the day he had first become a Shinigami. Ichigo could barely remember having fought off three goons after they had so rudely messed up the flowers had been put at the phantasm's place of death.

"Your… welcome," he said in a wavering voice, unsure if this all was some dream or nightmare he was experiencing. The voice of his fifteen-year-old self seemed so foreign, as well as the warm twilight pallet in the skies that was the evening.

It really had worked.

He looked at his hands, seeing none of the calluses that would have marked them after so many countless battles. Ichigo's breath almost caught in his throat as all that had come to pass seemed so much like a night terror that had long escaped in his waking moments.

Another first for what seemed like forever, he smiled. Now, he could help his friends, nudging them all towards the higher tiers of power so that they could have a better chance.

"You okay?" questioned the ghost girl as she saw him staring at his hand with emotions she couldn't identify.

He turned to her with a friendly smile, and spoke with controlled happiness. "Never better. You may have to remind me about those flowers."

"Okay!"

With that, he took off to his former home, subconsciously carrying himself like a general. But that couldn't be helped; he did become the First Division captain of the Gotei Thirteen- Byakuya and Soi Fon were not happy campers that day- after Old Man Yamamoto had passed on. It was a habit he had formed when walking out in front of the Shinigami divisions.

He closed his eyes as he gripped the door handle to his house, ready to rewrite the ending of his past life. It was a novel and now he was the author; there was no way he was going to let this become a tragedy again.

Author's Note: This is my first Bleach fan fic and I do hope that you all enjoy. It is time travel, something that isn't so new to us, but let it be known that I plan to make this good. There will be lots of pairings, especially by the end of this story and Kenpachi will have Bankai. You heard me right on that last part. If you're a fan of a particular character, I promise I will try my best to get them included in some major way. It will be a while before Grimmjow (who happens to be my favorite) and the other Espada make an appearance, but be rest assured it will be good. The action will be awesome! If you don't believe, read the reviews for my other stories and you shall hear the truth.

For those of you who are familiar with my Jinchuuriki Nine series and Shattered Eyes series (highly popular Naruto fiction that I have posted. Take a look if you are interested). I am seriously sorry that I haven't posted any chapters lately. One thing after another has prevented me from doing so, everything from end of the quarter to being out of town to getting grounded (I was starting to get withdrawals because of that last one), but the major one was that my internet kicked the bucket and I went without it for… well I lost track. Be expecting my chapters here in a while and I do hope you enjoy them.

Anyways, if you're confused about anything, it will be explained as the story goes on.

Feel free to correct me on any missed information or misspellings of characters' names. When I wrote this, I was flying blind without wikipedia to guide me. Even then, I still make errors and I want you all to point them out.

If you don't know, this chapter is really short by my standards. The next one should be much longer as it will chronicle Ichigo's regaining of his powers. We won't see Amemitsukai's bankai powers until much later or its initial release, or its sealed release until chapter three (the chapter is named _**Cry Wolf**_ if you want a slight spoiler)

The name of this chapter is taken from a poem I once wrote. Still getting it published, but publishes like to reject everything. I make it game to see how many rejection letters or e-mails I get.

_Next time: __**Chapter 2-**__**Angels Fall First**__- Ichigo regains his Shingami powers, but still lacks Amemitsukai. He also begins to plan what he's going to do and how he's going to save the world from the monster that is Aizen. Until next time._


	2. Angels Fall First

Chapter 2- Angels Fall First

_**Chapter 2- Angels Fall First**_

Orihime softly woke from her short nap, greeting her eyes to Tatsuki, who was sitting next to her. She didn't know when she had fallen asleep; just that she had felt unusually tired and then zonked on the grass.

Her best friend sighed as she saw the strawberry blond stir. "You know, Orihime? That was weird of you to just randomly fall asleep like that."

"I know," the girl said as she rubbed her eyes. "That was a weird dream too."

"What happened?"

"I don't remember; just that it was weird." Orihime put her finger up to her chin as she tried to remember. "There was this one saying, though, that kept repeating through it: _Drown the world in your sorrow, Amemitsukai._"

Tatsuki just stared at her friend as if she had grown two heads. Orihime could be weird, but this took the cake.

"I didn't know you were into poetry," Tatsuki told her as she stood up and stretched her back. "Anyway, I'm off. I've got things to do. Don't think too hard while I'm gone."

Orihime waved at Tatsuki with her usual exuberance as she watched her friend go down the street to her home. "See you, Tatsuki-chan!"

When she felt that the martial arts addict was gone, Orihime's complexion went from her usual self to a sorrowful- almost mourning- look. Even she didn't like to show her true feelings to Tatsuki very often, if at all. She didn't want the dark-haired girl to worry about her so much.

In fact, she remembered the dream. It was only a brief glimpse of Kurosaki Ichigo, he walking in an interesting choice of clothing, including a white haori that had a number 'one' stitched into the back of it. On his back, he walked with an almost elegant-looking meat cleaver, and a sky-blue claymore that was as big as his other weapon- instead of a white ribbon at the end of it like the cleaver it had a chain tassel with what looked like one the flowers from one of her hair pins attached to it.

The thought of it involving Ichigo made her blush, but it wasn't the normally scowling redhead she had fallen in love with. His eyes, they looked as if he had seen someone tear his heart out of his chest and then proceed to smash it to a thousand pieces in front of him. They were so dead, as if he was living from day to day for no purpose other than to exist. There was sadness as well, so much sadness that she felt almost as if he had bathed himself in misery.

What had brought about this dream?

Shaking her head, Orihime stood up and began walking back to her apartment. Even as she walked, the dream came back to haunt her.

"Kurosaki-kun, I hope you never look that sad," she told herself.

The thought of her secret love becoming like that, it only broke her own heart.

-0-

Ichigo lay quietly on his bed as he waited for the moment when Rukia would make her grand entrance. He didn't remember the exact time she was supposed to be here, but the sun had just set behind the horizon, casting the world in a cloak of darkness like the night everything had started. It shouldn't be long for the Hollow to make its presence known either.

He rubbed the side of his cheek as he remembered the welcoming sole of his father's foot at the door. Ichigo had forgotten how his father would try to beat the crap out him for no apparent reason, leading him to get a shoe-shaped red mark on his face that just barely disappeared.

After that, Isshin and Ichigo had wrestled around like they had back when things seemed so simple, at least before 'the incident.' Either way, he missed him so much. He couldn't remember when he had last joked around with his old man.

Then there were his sisters. Oh God, how he missed them.

Yuzu and Karin had been unfortunate civilian victims of the war. Aizen felt that Ichigo hadn't wallowed in enough misery after 'the incident,' and found the thought of killing off his family entertaining. He was quick to send Stark- who abhorred the idea- to kill them. Isshin had protected them, even going as far as to use his Bankai, but even that wasn't enough to defeat the Segundo Espada. That day, he had lost all of his family.

This was where he hit a conundrum. He now had the power to change things, to be able to give the people he cared for a fighting chance, but how was he going to do that with his little sisters? It was going to be one of those things that he was going to have to make up as he went along.

There was also another problem he had to deal with: where were _Zangetsu_ and _Amemitsukai?_ He could understand it having to involve the fact that he didn't have his Shinigami powers yet, but it still would have been nice to have a conversation with them at least.

'They're not here, but your evil twin is!' a voice in his head shouted.

Ichigo allowed his patented scowl to mar his face as he heard the voice of his inner Hollow. 'No matter where I go, I just can't seem to get rid of you, you damn parasite.'

He could feel Shirosaki- the name his inner Hollow had taken a liking to- grinning in the back of his mind. 'Nope, can't get rid of me that easily!'

'I don't even have my Shinigami powers yet, so why the hell are you here?' Ichigo asked as he stared up into the ceiling.

'Okay you retard, let's go over this for the thousandth time. I am the spot on your soul; I will always be here whether you like it or not, even when you're stuck as a meat sack. Oh, by the way, DON'T CALL ME A DAMN LEECH! I WOULDN'T BE HERE IF IT…!"

Ichigo sighed as he drowned his tenant's yelling, only pissing off the Hollow more than he was already.

Shirosaki and Ichigo had done something that many of the Vizard would have thought crazy: they had made an agreement- albeit, it was shaky even unto now. The only thing that prevented them from making another attempt at ripping each others' head off was the fact that this little agreement allowed them to hit unheard of tiers of power. Not only did Ichigo gain the ability to control partial transformations and be able to use Hollow powers even without a mask- though they were much, MUCH weaker than without it- but he also gained something that had been thought impossible: a third release. And the only thing he had to do was let his horse become the king of the castle every once in a while with the rules that Shirosaki wasn't allowed to harm anybody, unless of course he took control while in a fight.

Ichigo was quickly brought out of his thoughts as he felt an intrusion in his room, or at least entering it. He turned his head in time to see Rukia appear on his dresser and then begin to walk out of his room.

He stayed silent for a minute and waited until the petite, dark-haired Shinigami was halfway across the room before he announced her presence. "You know, if you feel a need to invade my house, you could always use the front door."

Rukia turned to him with blinking eyes. Did that human just acknowledge her presence? Thinking that it was just some fluke, she shrugged her shoulders and kept going.

Seeing that he was being thought of as nothing but an anomaly, his hand began to move on its own accord as he instinctively picked up a book from his dresser and threw it at the future Captain of the Thirteenth Division.

That was another thing he had to do: make sure Rukia got her Bankai much earlier.

He smiled as he watched Rukia slam head first into the ground with a look that clearly said 'WHAT THE HELL!?' She looked at him like a deer caught in front of someone's headlights. If only he had a camera to commemorate this moment.

"You see me?!" she yelled while pointing at him.

"Uh, yeah," he simply told her, playing out the script he had in his mind. It was much too early to play stupid and reveal everything. "What the hell makes you think that you can just come into my house?"

"I'm looking for something!" she told him in a huff. She didn't have time for this.

"Well, look elsewhere! Who do you think you are to come into my house for something?" he told her, opening it up for her to explain everything like she did on the first night.

"Alright, I'll tell you!" she said, pulling out a drawing book.

Ichigo mentally groaned the moment he saw it. Rukia's drawings had sucked in the future as well and he was pretty sure that that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Byakuya was just as bad as Rukia when it came to drawing, so it must have something to do with being siblings.

When she opened it up, she began to explain pointing at pictures of deformed bunnies as she tutored him in something that he already knew like the back of his hand. "I'm a Shinigami. It is our duty to guide spirits to the other side by performing Soul Burial, therefore keeping balance in the world."

Here she pointed at a picture of a happy looking bunny. Ichigo's eye twitched slightly, remembering a couple of meetings he had with her as the captain of the First Division where she had pulled out the drawings. Kenpachi was the only one with the bronze marbles to take the book and rip it to shreds. Of course Rukia used her Bankai and tried to kill him with it afterwards.

"But every so often," Rukia continued to explain, "a spirit goes bad," she once more pointed at another picture, this time pointing at a black, evil-looking bunny- or was it a bear? He couldn't tell. "When this happens, a spirit's chain of fate has been eroded and it is also becomes our duty to cleanse these spirits. Any questions?"

"Yeah, do you know where I can get a fork?" Ichigo asked as he stood up.

"Why would you want a fork?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So I can gouge out my eyes. Your drawings suck, but even that might be giving you too much credit," he told her as he crossed his arms.

Rukia's left eye began to twitch in anger, earning a grin from Ichigo.

Oh how good it felt to laugh and enjoy himself. He couldn't remember when he last smiled or cracked a joke. Being around his family and old friends brought about his long buried younger side that he so wished he could have enjoyed in the future.

"Oh, really?" she told him, wearing a smile that didn't bode well with him. If he knew Rukia like he did, the next couple seconds were going to be highly uncomfortable.

Like he had thought, before he could stop her, she muttered a Kido. The next second he was lying on the ground, being bound by the spell.

'Didn't this happen last time?' he thought to himself.

'Yep!' Shirosaki answered for him.

'I wasn't asking you!' he yelled back. There were times his inner demon could more annoying than dangerous.

"So what do you think of my binding spell?" Rukia asked him with her 'I'm-more-superior-than-you' look. If only she knew just who the hell she had just bound.

If he had to answer her question honestly though, he would say he hated Kido with a purple passion. He hated it in the past, he hated it in the future, and he hated it now. That didn't mean he didn't know a couple, but he never used them, if at all.

"You…" before he could finish his sentence, he looked away as he heard a roar and sensed the spiritual pressure of the Hollow. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked.

'Why the hell isn't she sensing it?' he asked himself.

'Idiot!' Shirosaki told him. 'She can't sense it because of your damn spiritual pressure! I thought you knew that already, you dunce!'

'Damn, I forgot about that!'

"Hey, I think the thing you're looking for…" he tried to tell, only to be interrupted as his door opened to reveal Karin staggering in with blood staining her clothes.

"Ichi-nii… you need to go and help, Yuzu… she's in trouble," his sister told him, then finally falling unconscious.

"Karin!" he yelled, seeing the sight of his little sister. He couldn't stand the thought of Yuzu or Karin getting hurt again, but for him to see it, it only upset him even more.

"Shit," Rukia yelled out loud. "Why couldn't I sense it before!?"

Just as she was about to head out the door, she felt a sudden spike of spiritual pressure, and it wasn't coming from the Hollow. Rukia slowly turned her head to see what was going on behind her, only for her eyes to widen even more at the sight of Ichigo standing up and then to shatter the binding spell.

"Come on," Ichigo calmly told her, only allowing a small hint of worry to permeate in his voice. "We have to save them."

She couldn't put her finger on it, but that face… it looked as if it belonged to someone who had seen one too many horrors in his life. Who was this boy? Numbly, she nodded her head and followed after, as if she was following a captain of the Gotei Thirteen.

When the two ran down the stairs, they were greeted by the sight of the Hollow Fishbone D holding onto Yuzu with its maw wide open to devour her.

"Onii-chan!" she cried when she saw him.

"Hold on, Yuzu!" he yelled back.

Ichigo quickly picked up a nearby rock and threw it into the eye of the fallen soul, making it cry out in pain and drop his little sister. He ran up to it and made a rude face that Shinji would have been proud of, infuriating the Hollow even more and making it follow him like human bait.

He stopped in a back alley, watching as the demon filled the whole alley with its girth. Now all he had to do was wait for Rukia. Shirosaki may be running around in his mind, but the white maggot was useless without him being a Shinigami.

'Do you have to call me names?' the Hollow sarcastically asked.

'Not now!' Ichigo yelled.

"Well, if you're hungry, why don't you eat me!?" he yelled to it, following the script like he had planned. Now all Rukia had to do was jump in front of him and then everything would be good.

Fishbone D obliged and stretched its neck with its mouth wide open.

Ichigo closed his eyes for a second, but then reopened them as he felt a liquid hit him. He opened them to see that the Hollow had been stupid enough to chomp down on Rukia's zanpakuto, harming itself at the same time. It disappeared for a second to regroup, leaving Rukia to crumple to the ground.

"Idiot," she whispered to Ichigo as he knelt next to her. "What makes you think that it will just stop after you? Now we're both going to die."

He picked her up and propped her against a nearby fence. Ichigo cautiously kept sensing where the Hollow was, finding that it was now round two as it began to make its way back.

"Sorry, but it's too early for me to want to die," he told her. "Got any bright ideas?"

Rukia closed here eyes as her mind went through a thousand ideas. Only one stuck out to her. "I have one, but it's pretty stupid."

"Right now," he told her, only to be interrupted as the Hollow entered the alleyway, angrier than ever, "I'm more than willing to do something stupid if it means we live."

"I'm not sure if it'll work, but it's worth a shot," she continued. "Take my zanpakuto and stab yourself with it. It should give you half of my power."

She didn't have to say it twice as he abruptly snatched the sword from her. Rukia had little idea how much Ichigo had wanted to hear those words.

Before he stabbed himself, he gave a soft smile. It was so good to be back among his friends, even if they didn't know the fate that was waiting for them.

"By the way," he told her, still smiling, "the name is Ichigo."

"Rukia," she told him, wearing her own smile. "My name is Kuchiki Rukia."

Just as Fishbone D was upon them, Ichigo stabbed himself, bathing the immediate area in light. The hollow roared as it was momentarily blinded while Rukia covered her own eyes.

'He took all my power!' she yelled in her mind, now wearing a white version of her Shinigami uniform. 'This guy took every single last drop of it!'

Rukia looked towards her soon to be savior and could only think of one thing, 'That… that is a huge zanpakuto!'

Ichigo looked to her and gave her soft smile before putting on his game face. The Hollow took a step backwards in fear at the sight of a brand new Shinigami, made right in front of its own eyes.

'Zangetsu, you there?' Ichigo questioned in his mind, keeping a careful eye on his opponent.

'No duh, of course the old fart is back!' Shirosaki yelled at him.

He could then hear the familiar grunt of the avatar of his blade. 'Rude as ever Shirosaki."

'Why thank you!'

'Where's _Amemitsukai?'_ Ichigo asked in a hurry, watching as the Hollow got over its momentary fear and began to charge at him.

'She is not here,' _Zangetsu_ explained. 'Until you meet Inoue-san, you will not get her back.'

'Well, that's just peachy!'

Rukia watched as Ichigo seemed to have a mental conversation. She wanted to yell at him to stop staring at the beastie in front of him and kill it, but before she could say the words, Ichigo disappeared and then reappeared behind the Hollow, looking as if he had swung his sword just once. Fishbone D stood wide eyed, but then five traces of light appeared on its body, and then the demon split apart into five pieces, finally dissolving even as they hit the ground.

'He's… he's inhuman,' Rukia told herself as she watched Ichigo lean his huge sword on shoulder.

'It's good to be back,' Ichigo told himself with a smile.

Author's Note: Yo! Here's the second chapter, twice as long as the last one, but still not long enough for my taste. The chapters should get gradually longer as the story continues but updates may be slow not just for this story but for all of mine because life has officially caught up to _me_. Now I have a job and it doesn't leave me a lot of time to do anything for myself.

Also, due to the higher than expected reviews, I'm going to go ahead and keep going with this story. I seriously wasn't expecting such high reviews and I'm glad that you all see fit to read this story.

Orihime's visions of what had happened are side effects of being the creator of Amemitsukai. She doesn't have the memories of what happened, but she is seeing what happened through the eyes of our favorite rain angel. The phrase _Drown the world in you sorrows_ is the phrase to get needed to get Amemitsukai into initial release.

I need to acknowledge something that a reader pointed out to me. Someone said that Toshiro's zanpakuto is the strongest water type, I must say that this isn't true. It's actually only an ice type. The only water zanpakuto in the series was Nejibana. Most of the information I have is pretty accurate as I do look at wikipedia for info on this kind of stuff.

If you all noticed, I went ahead and skipped over the meeting with Ichigo's family because my brain wasn't working correctly on that part. What I'm also trying to say is don't expect me to follow the manga so close. I will follow the events but not down to a high exactness. I will still stick with a sense of cannon to it though.

Finally, don't expect to see that fancy third release for a long time. Maybe not until the soul society arc, but that's a very big maybe even then.


	3. Cry Wolf

Chapter 3- Cry Wolf

_**Chapter 3- Cry Wolf**_

_Ichigo ran through the halls of Los Noches, his two zanpakuto in full Bankai. He had the black trench coat with the red lining that Tensa Zangetsu gave him, but this time he also had a set of armored greaves and vambraces, courtesy of Ranka Amemitsukai. The silver armor glimmered in the perpetual moonlight of Hueco Mundo._

_He was here on a mission: kill the First Espada. It was why he had both of his Bankai at full and ready for combat. Ichigo was here to kill the bastard in the room that the intelligence had specified. This Espada was a new one, stronger than Stark and Halibel combined; whoever this was, the Arrancar had killed Yamamoto-Genryusai in a one-on-one battle._

_The new general of the Gotei Thirteen turned the corner, expecting anything that Aizen Sosuke had up his sleeve. No nightmare he could ever have, not even the most stinking and foulest Hollow from the darkest recesses of Hueco Mundo, could have prepared him for the sight that greeted his eyes._

_A familiar head of strawberry blond hair stood in the center of the room, staring at the moon that was penetrating the window._

_This had to be a dream. He had seen her die that day; his eyes had forever engrained the image of her bloodied body from the Black Coffin spell that Aizen had used. Maybe it was a nightmare, one that he couldn't wake up from._

_The person sensed his presence, and slowly turned to reveal her face. When she had fully turned, Ichigo's heart almost stopped as he dropped his two zanpakuto from shock._

_Sorrowful silver eyes met his wine brown ones for the first time in a long time._

"_Kurosaki-kun," she softly said._

"_Orihime," he muttered under his breath._

_If anything, the mention of her name made her even more sorrowful than before. "You never called me by my first name. This must be a dream," she whispered._

_He didn't know what to say, but as he took a closer look at her, his breath caught in his throat. At the base of her neck was a Hollow hole as infinitely deep as the deepest abyss. The hairpins he had known her so well for were replaced with ivory ones, the remnants of a Hollow mask._

"_Amazing isn't it?" said a voice that Ichigo had come to hate more than anything that could ever exist._

_Orihime's head bowed down at the ground, not wanting to meet the eyes of the person she loved so much. Behind her, Aizen stepped out of the shadows with a smile; not his usual friendly smile that he always wore, but one that seemed more fitting of a man that wanting to play God._

"_I admit," he said as he stepped out the shadows, putting his hands behind his back as he came to stand next to Orihime, "I was a little sour when she destroyed the Orb of Distortion. Do you remember that day like I do?"_

_How could he not? Aizen had had Stark forcibly detain him, and made him watch everything, every attack Orihime took as punishment. After the former captain had felt as if he had caused enough emotional damage, he handed Ichigo Orihime's hairpins and threw him into a Gargantua, all the while telling him that this was a lesson he should burn into his mind._

_Ichigo grinded his teeth at the memory, which made his enemy's smile widen even more._

"_Ah, very good," Aizen told him. "I'm glad that you took my advice and burned what you saw into your memory. Although you thought that I had killed her, I actually took it upon myself to turn her into a hollow. I never imagined she would be as strong as she was, as powerful as a Vasto Lorde right off the bat. After that, I tore off the mask for her, and then she became what she is now."_

_He put his hand on Orihime's shoulder, making her flinch under the contact. Ichigo was furious that he would do such a thing; this man was the devil himself in the form of a human. Hollows had nothing on him; Hollows did what they do, because they want to survive, and to fill the emptiness that plagues them. But for Aizen, there was no rhyme or reason to his actions._

"_I knew you would come," Aizen continued. "It doesn't surprise me that Soul Society would send their strongest to kill the Uno Espada. Tell me, how long have you been in the position; a week, maybe two? Well, let me make the task of finding her easier on you."_

_Ichigo's eyes widened when he caught the last thing Aizen had spoken._

'_Oh, God, please, say that I'm wrong!' he yelled in his mind. 'Please, say this is a bad dream!'_

_Aizen gently moved Orihime's head, revealing the tattoo of a number one on the side of her neck._

"_No," he muttered, feeling warm tears stain the edges of his eyes. Ichigo could also see a couple tears coming down the side of Orihime's face as Aizen retracted his hand, wearing his usual devious smile._

"_Good," the monster said as he stepped back into the shadows. "This will prove highly entertaining. Inoue Orihime."_

_She closed her eyes in anticipation of the order. More tears of sorrow rolled down her face as she knew what was coming._

"_Eliminate Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen ordered, disappearing so that he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire._

"_Orihime," Ichigo whispered as he picked up Tensa Zangetsu and Ranka Amemitsukai, no longer holding back the tears._

"_I'm so sorry," she whispered as she pulled out a feather from a pocket._

_The feather glowed white and then shaped itself into a double-edged sword, as elegant as Orihime looked in the light of the moon._

"_**Lament,"**__ Ichigo braced himself for the name of her zanpakuto, and the tears that were going to come in this battle, __**"Loro'n Angel."**_

_Orihime was immersed in a cascade of spiritual energy, kicking up dust and hiding her release form from Ichigo's eyes. He gripped his zanpakuto, feeling the sadness that Ranka Amemitsukai permeated, feeling her creator become something that she wasn't born of._

_When the smoke cleared, Ichigo saw a mass of feathers wrapped tightly around his love, but after a second they unwound themselves, revealing a set of moon white wings that were ten feet long each. Orihime now wore a dress that was more fitting of such an image, but now her hands sported a large set of claws that betrayed such an ethereal appearance while her feet had become like that of a harpy's. Her hairpins were replaced with what looked a diadem fit for a queen._

"_I wish it was different," she quietly said as her double edged sword reappeared in her hand, having extended to become a long sword._

"_I know," he said as he got into a stance._

_-0-_

_He wept as he gently held Orihime's face to his own, savoring the life that was slowly leaving her. Blood stained her now ashen lips, while her eyes looked into his own._

_Already he had lost her once, but now the pain couldn't even be described. It was with his own hands this time that he killed her. They were stained with the blood of an angel, a being that he had wished and wished that he could save. It was only through death that she could be saved from having to live forever as Aizen's servant._

_The light was quickly leaving her silver eyes, but they no longer contained the sadness he had seen in them earlier. Rather, they looked as if her greatest dream had come true._

"_I love you… Ichigo," she whispered with what little breath she had left._

_He couldn't say anything; he could only hold her even closer as more of his tears fell. Ichigo kept trying to tell himself that it was just a nightmare, but a small piece of him knew that he had truly and utterly lost the one he had thought dead, this time for real._

_In death, Inoue Orihime wore a contented smile, happy that she could at last be in his arms._

"_Don't look so sad."_

_Ichigo looked up with utter hatred in his eyes, greeting himself to Aizen once more. The grand enemy of Soul Society stood there, taking enjoyment in every tear Ichigo shed._

"_You bastard," the new general whispered in fury._

"_Look on the bright side," Aizen told him. "You completed your mission and you saved the girl of your dreams, even if it was with death. I'm just upset that I lost such a strong Arrancar for my army."_

_Without warning, Ichigo grabbed Tensa Zangetsu and leapt at his enemy. Aizen's smirk only broadened as he caught the katana with his bare hand, but he hadn't been expecting the Getsuga Tensho that was unleashed. The auburn-haired man was quickly launched through the wall and out the other side, but as the smoke cleared, it was revealed that the only damage Ichigo had done was give him a cut on the palm of his hand._

_Aizen stared at his bloodied palm, entranced by the sight of his own life liquid._

"_It's been a long time since I've seen my own blood," Aizen told himself, no longer wearing the smile he was known for. _

_He then looked back at the furious Ichigo and unleashed all his spiritual pressure, practically crushing the very ground he stood on. _

"_Maybe I should have killed you when everything started." He paused as he allowed his mind to wonder, remembering what he had seen during the battle with his strongest Arrancar. "But there's always been this thing about you, though, that I have never been able to understand. It fascinates me to no end, but now I regret getting curious about you."_

_Ichigo dropped his sword as he fell to his knees, almost ready to vomit from the pressure on his body. Sweating as if he was in a sauna, he looked back at Aizen, his eyes still permeating seething hatred at the man._

"_Your growth rate and your willingness to not stop battling- even when the odds are against you. Those things about you have always entertained me, but no, it was the fact that you broke limits- went higher than should be possible- that had always intrigued me." _

_Aizen's eyes stared at the strawberry before him as if he was trying to decipher a puzzle. He, a master of every power in existence- Hollow and Shinigami alike- had seen something in that battle, something that brought about an emotion he had never thought he would ever feel since the day he had begun planning, waiting for his chance to take the Shinigami King's throne; Aizen Sosuke was jealous._

"_Tell me, what allows you to become so strong? I have mastered all of the abilities of Shinigami, I have mastered every single last one of the abilities of the Hollows, everything to its absolute limit; but why can't I break those barriers like you do? What makes you tick?!"_

_He looked taken back as Ichigo bitterly laughed and then began to slowly stand, even under the massive pressure. When he looked up at him, his eyes carried something he had never seen before: instinct. Was that the basis of Ichigo's abilities; did he fight because it was instinct, something that came as natural as breathing for him?_

"_I hate you," he simply said._

_He then turned around and walked over to the fallen form of Orihime, even under the pressure of Aizen's power._

_For the first time in a long time, Aizen let his temper loose, unleashing a tsunami of spiritual pressure that would have grinded a normal person's bones to dust. Even then, Ichigo only stumbled for a second and then bent down to pick up his zanpakuto, and then came over to Orihime's body and gently carried her bridal style as a Gargantua opened from behind him._

_He spared one last loathing glance towards his enemy and then stepped into the portal that would lead him back to Soul Society._

_Seconds later, Gin and Kaname watched as the building that Aizen was supposed to meet their enemy in exploded from the torrent of spiritual energy their leader unleashed. The pressure was so great that any buildings that were unlucky enough to be nearby were demolished as well._

_When he walked back into the room where the group had been sipping tea, Aizen looked calm as ever, only lacking his friendly smile. It was only when the two traitors saw him pick up a cup of tea did they see him shaking in rage as the liquid vibrated ever so lightly under his touch. Even unto the day they died, neither of them found out what had happened to make him so angry._

_-0-_

Ichigo slowly blinked his eyes open as he heard a blaring noise that he couldn't recognize. He half expected to see crumbled buildings and the battlefield that had formerly been his beloved home. Only when he saw that he was in his room did the memories of yesterday hit him; traveling to the past really hadn't been a dream.

He slammed the alarm clock, turning it off, and sighed as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Ever since that day, the moment he had dubbed 'the incident', he would always be haunted by that nightmare every time he closed his eyes. It was also because of that memory he pushed on, waiting for the day when he could finally kill his nemesis.

The battle with Orihime; that was the day when his heart had shattered, the day he had stabbed her with the very zanpakuto that her hairpins had gifted him with. The scumbag that was Aizen naturally enjoyed the battle from his vantage point, taking joy in every second that he emotionally tortured the teen.

It was also during that battle that he gained the third release, the thing that had pissed off Aizen when he confronted Ichigo after the battle. Even he himself couldn't understand how he could break the natural barriers that held back so many beings.

The thing was about that battle, nobody else knew about. People were naturally shocked when he brought back Orihime, even more so when they saw the number one tattooed to her neck. He didn't speak for over a couple months and every one left him alone during that time knowing that he would be quick to reveal his temper. Afterwards when he had started to talk again- though noticeably with a much more dead voice- his friends attempted to softly get answers out him, but he would keep his mouth shut, no matter what kind of prodding they did.

With another sigh, he got out of his warm bed and entered the cool morning air. Despite the dream he had earlier, that had to be one of the best nights of sleep he had ever recalled having in a long time. Hours to sleep were short on hand as the threat of another Arrancar invasion was always on everyone's mind.

Before he got off the bed, he allowed his mind to wander for a bit. Everything he was doing was like a game. The last time the rules were simply put: Kill Aizen. But now he was back and with a new twist on them, and that was to kill his nemesis but keep all of his friends alive. They had to get stronger faster, that was their only chance; this, and to end it all quickly.

On that thought, he could end it all right now by getting the Orb of Distortion out of Rukia. Destroy it now with Orihime's power and then put his self so far ahead of the game that the defeat of his opponent was inevitable. The problem was that he didn't have that kind of capability. The only one that could do that outside of Aizen was Urahara, but he didn't want to open that particular can of worms just yet; it was too early for people to start questioning his sanity.

Either way he looked at it, he only had a brief window of opportunity to throw all his cards out on the table. That single time would be on the execution grounds where he met Aizen for the first time during the last timeline.

Ichigo shook his head as he finally decided that he needed to get dressed for the day. He allowed a smile to trace his lips as he thought of who he was going to see. The thought of going to school again was foreign to him, but he honestly didn't mind it if he got to see Tatsuki and the others. The person he really couldn't wait to see, though, was Orihime. It would be a dream come true to finally see her smiling face once more.

-0-

Orihime jolted awake from the nightmare she had just experienced, scattering the tears on her face across her bed spread. After she took a couple calming breaths, she hugged her knees close to her as she remembered what she had seen.

It was such a horrible nightmare, and like the one she had yesterday afternoon, it involved Ichigo in the white haori. This time, however, she had been in it. Only she was a monster of some kind, one that had wings and looked like an angel. In the dream, she had every intention of killing Ichigo, who stood across from her with disbelieving sorrow while gripping two different nodachi.

She also remembered the evil man that was in her dream as well. Auburn hair that was slicked back and a devious smile that looked like it belonged to a man who intended nothing less than to rule the universe itself. He was the one who had ordered her to eliminate her love. She had shivered under his touch when he grasped her shoulder.

Then came the ending of the dream when she lay in the arms of Ichigo on the verge of dying and disappearing into sweet oblivion. As nice as it was to be held by him, she would have liked it better if it wasn't such a sad ending. After that, she woke up.

Her body gently shivered as a single sob made its way out of her. The grief, she could almost taste it in that dream. It had been a nightmare that would haunt her for a long time.

She looked at her alarm clock past puffy eyes to see that she still had a little bit of time before school, but should she go? Tatsuki would be quick to notice there was something bothering her; and right now, she was an emotional mess- even if it was just a dream.

With a sigh, she decided against going to school. At least she could make the excuse she wasn't filling well to her best friend when she decided to stop by.

-0-

"What's wrong?"

Ichigo turned to his right to see his best friend and future lieutenant, Chad, looking at him with concern. He had missed the tall boy, and he regretted having him come out on the battlefield with him, but his best bud wouldn't have had it any other way that day.

"Just thinking," Ichigo told him. "Why do you ask?"

Chad seemed to ponder his answer for a second. That was something else that Ichigo noticed about his friend in the future, the giant had a peculiar eye for picking up things that many might have been overlooked by others. He just wished he had noticed this about his friend sooner.

Finally, after a couple seconds, he said his observations. "You seem… off… today. As if you're waiting for someone and there are times when you're near someone. There are times you're near someone that you seem to space out."

Ichigo sighed. Yeah, his tactical friend really could pick things out. "Sorry, just had a lot on my mind lately."

It was true. Meeting all of his old friends brought about a sense of nostalgia every time he was around them. He remembered all of their deaths like yesterday and then to see all of their faces, unscarred by the damages of war… the feeling couldn't be described.

Then there was the fact that he had been keeping an eye out for Orihime. It surprised him to not see her; his memories told him that she wasn't one to miss a day of school unless it was for good reason. And if his memory was as good as he hoped, he didn't remember her missing out on this particular day.

He grimaced as something hit him. What happened to change this? Did another hitchhiker join him in his blast to the past or was it just some fluke?

'Guys,' he called out in his mind, 'I could use a little help here.'

'Why the hell are you asking me?' his alter ego spitefully told him.

'For the moment,' _Zangetsu_ interrupted Shirosaki, 'be silent. I may know what has caused this change.'

'Please… do share with the peanut gallery,' the Hollow told him.

'I hate to say it, but I agree with the white maggot.' Ichigo could feel a mental pair of eyes glaring at him with enough hatred that could have turned him into a boiling pile of puke.

_Zangetsu_ cleared his throat as he got ready to explain. 'It may have something to do with _Amemitsukai._ After all, she was created from Orihime's power and is therefore a piece of her as well. It would only be natural that there is a side effect of bringing her to the past.'

'Great!' Ichigo sarcastically yelled in his mind. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. It looked as if he was going to have to pay her visit tonight to get the zanpakuto before any major damage could be done- and if there was damage, to perform damage control. He was also curious as to whether or not Rukia was carrying a memory modifier on her- just in case of course.

He was interrupted from his mental conversation as Tatsuki's voice rang in his ear. "Yo, have you guys seen Orihime today?"

"Yeah!" yelled Keigo as he walked up next to the martial arts master. "Where is Inoue-san?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. If he knew the pervert like he did, Keigo only missed Orihime because it had something to do with her breasts.

Mizuiro walked up next to them as well. If he had to guess, her reasons were on par with Keigo's. "Where is Hime?" she yelled at him, pointing her finger for added effect. "If you did anything to…"

She was quickly knocked out from a punch from Tatsuki before she could make an unneeded remark. Keigo looked on with horror, but Ichigo suspected that he at least had more brains than Mizuiro to keep his mouth shut about his lover. And thankfully Tatsuki had knocked out the rampaging lesbian before he did; the thought of her touching the love of his life only made him want to imprint her face with the sole of his shoe.

"Well?" Tatsuki asked while tapping her foot.

"Why are you asking me?" Ichigo fired back.

"I'm asking everybody," she answered. If it wasn't for the fact that he had trained himself to pick out normally unnoticeable habits about people- something that he had found very handy as a general- he wouldn't have noticed the gleam in her eyes. Evidently she had special reasons for coming to him, and he had a feeling what they were.

"I swear, I haven't seen her, but I was planning to go a pay visit to her apartment after school anyways," he truthfully answered.

Tatsuki sighed, as she didn't have any choice but to believe him. "I'll come too. It's not like her to miss out on school, so I'm worried."

"Can I come too?" Keigo asked with a hopeful smile.

"NO!" Ichigo and Tatsuki answered at the same time, earning a surprised look from the other, and a horrified, wide-eyed look from Keigo.

After a couple seconds of having a staring contest, Tatsuki walked away, but kept a wary eye on Ichigo. The strawberry-haired teen- or adult; depending on how one looked at it- sighed at that face.

"Today is a weird day," he told himself. He had high standards for what was weird- and Nel Tu topped a good deal of those things- but today was just plain wacky on his scale.

Of course, it only got more interesting when all the female students crowded around a new student. Ichigo looked over with boredom, but felt one of his eyebrows shoot past his hairline when he saw Rukia skip over to him.

"Hey, I'm a new student here, and I'm just meeting everyone right now," she told him, wearing a smile he knew was fake. "Want to be friends?"

She held out her hand, but what he saw almost made him laugh. Whenever he looked back on this memory, it always made him chuckle at just how smart Rukia could be when there was a need to relay info or to deliver a threat of some kind, most of which were aimed at him. There were a couple of words jotted down on the palm of her hand, obviously meant for his eyes only.

_Make a scene and I'll kill you_

Though hilarious, it still wasn't as intimidating as some of the ones he had gotten during his time as a general. There was one where she had invited him to Renji's and her wedding, and if he hadn't showed up on time… well, there were some memories that he felt were best to be never brought up again. The thought alone made him shiver.

"Sure," he said, putting on his own fake smile. "Why not!?"

Before he could react, she snatched his hand and began to drag him out of the school.

-0-

"Could you please tell me why you dragged me out here?" he said as he finally got loose. He already knew, but it would be for the best to play his part in this play.

Rukia gave him a smile, one that Ichigo identified as her mischievous one that came out whenever she had something planned. She walked over to him while putting on a glove and then when she got close enough to him, she didn't just touch his head like last time, but punched him in the nose instead, ejecting him from his body with a bloody nose.

"What the hell was that for!?" he yelled while holding his nose.

"I felt like it," she answered in the normal, uptight Kuchiki manner. "Now I have a question for you…"

"If it's about being a Shinigami," he answered with a nasally voice before she could finish her sentence, "I'm all for it."

"Really?" She had the decency to look slightly dumbstruck. Rukia had expected this to take much longer than that.

"Well, yeah," he answered, glad that the blood had stopped leaking out of his nose for him to talk like normal. "Kicking Hollow ass sounds great. But I'm curious; don't you guys get a dental plan?"

That… was an odd question that she wasn't prepared for. "Uh, no."

"Well, that sucks," he said with a shrug. "It was a joke anyways."

Rukia could only raise an eyebrow.

That was something he thought about doing as a general was to implement a dental plan. It wasn't common knowledge that Byakuya had a cavity; the only person who knew about it other than Ichigo himself was Soi Fon, but how she found out was way beyond him.

"Anyways," she said while clearing her throat. "There was a Hollow that appeared earlier. We have to go take care of it real fast."

Ichigo sighed. "As long as we get back before school gets out. I have to head to Inoue's house to check up on her."

-0-

The problem with Shirosaki was that he could be about as subtle as a kick to the balls. In battle, the fireworks always had to be big, and it was game to see how much he could show off. To top off the preverbal sundae, Shirosaki always played with his food before he finally killed the poor sucker. Normally Ichigo wouldn't have a problem with this, as more destruction sometimes meant a quicker fight, but with him having to keep a low profile for a while, that was the last thing he needed.

Throughout his entire trip there, his inner demon had complained and complained about letting him out like a little three year old. Only after repeating it for the one hundredth time did Ichigo finally relent, but not after knocking Rukia out, all the while making it look like an accident. Then the terror that was the white maggot of his mind was unleashed upon the world. Ichigo didn't know whether he was to feel bad for the Hollow or to chastise his white half for being a show off. The ground the battle had taken place on had enough pockmarks to look like the surface of the moon, courtesy of Shirosaki playing target practice with multiple Ceros.

Afterwards, when it came time to perform Soul Burial, and Ichigo had taken back control of his body, the Plus that he was there to save looked as if he had crapped his pants. Well, that was the normal effect Shirosaki had on people; Shinigami were especially prone to this behavior, or at least the lower-ranked ones were.

He sighed as he carried Rukia's body over his shoulder. The strawberry looked at her head to see a nice sized goose egg developing where his elbow had 'accidentally' made contact. Ichigo looked towards a nearby clock to see that school only had a couple minutes left.

It was then he could feel his cargo stirring. Knowing that she was going to cause bodily harm to him, he sat her down and took a couple steps back, and like he expected she woke in a fit and punched the air where she expected Ichigo's head to be.

"You retard!" she yelled, rubbing the bump that was growing on the side of her head.

"Not my fault you got in the way," he coolly told her while turning the other way.

"No, you should have been paying attention!" she shot back, rubbing her head.

"Who cares?" he told her, turning back to his face back onto her, earning a dagger like glare. "School's almost out and like I said, I want to see if Inoue is okay. Want to come?"

Rukia shrugged her shoulders, although still looking temperamental. "Whatever."

-0-

"Oi, Orihime!" Tatsuki said aloud as she knocked against Orihime's door. "Open up!"

Tatsuki had left school early, carrying her friend's books with her. If there was something wrong with Inoue, she wanted to be the first one to know. She did find it odd, though, that Ichigo was stopping by.

Slowly the door opened and out peered the strawberry-blond, eyes red and puffy and trying her best to look sick.

"Oh, hey Tatsuki-chan," she quietly greeted.

"Ah man," the dark-haired girl said as she noticed that her friend had been crying, "you look awful. What happened?"

"Nothing," Inoue tried to lie.

"Don't 'nothing' me," Tatsuki shot back, shoving her self through the door and looking at her friend with genuine worry. "I'm your best friend; you can tell me anything, you know."

Orihime saddened at the thought. Could she really tell Tatsuki about what she had been experiencing for the past couple days; or would her friend think her psychotic?

She had taken a nap earlier, hoping that maybe getting some more sleep would help her. Unfortunately, she had had another nightmare, this time depicting Ichigo becoming a monster with a white skull mask. These dreams were haunting her; but what could be the cause of such horrible visions?

Maybe, they would go away if she talked about them. Tatsuki might know what the cause of them is, and even find a way to get rid of them.

"I'll go put some tea on," she conceded.

"That's a start," Tatsuki thought aloud.

As soon as Orihime disappeared into the kitchen, she walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch.

-0-

"So why are we going to see Inoue?" Rukia asked for the hundredth odd time.

The unlikely duo was walking side by side towards Orihime's house, Rukia looking aggravated that Ichigo had dragged her along. Ichigo wouldn't have brought her along, but his memories told him that Sora had become a Hollow. Whether it was today or tomorrow he couldn't recall, but he was smart enough to bring the midget with him just in case.

Ichigo sighed as he answered. "We're just going to stop by and say hi and see how she's feeling."

'You also want that bitch_, Amemitsukai,_ back as well,' Shirosaki added.

'Don't call her that!'

'You two, that's enough,' _Zangetsu_ intervened. 'Besides, we have an uninvited guest nearby.'

Hearing that, Ichigo stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, earning another one of Rukia's aggravated looks. Like he had trained himself to, he began to sense for the intrusion, and like the avatar of his blade had told him there was a Hollow nearby.

"Rukia, you might want to think about putting on that glove," he told his friend.

Catching what he meant, her face became serious as she dug into her pockets and pulled out the glove. Before she could slip it on though, Ichigo had to jump out the way as a jet of acid flew out of nowhere. He looked up at the originator and out stepped Acidwire, the Hollow form of Inoue Sora.

'Well, look at this!' Shirosaki shouted in his mind in excitement. 'The retard came out early! How about we beat his ass now and get it all over with?'

'This didn't happen last time!' Ichigo shouted in surprise.

'Well no duh, Sherlock. I think your bitchy zanpakuto had something to do with this. But that's just a personal guess.'

Ichigo cut the mental conversation as another ball of acid was launched at him. He jumped out of the way and landed near Rukia. The small Shinigami hit him and thrust him out of his body, allowing him to now stand in full Shinigami uniform and his oversized katana in hand.

"I'll kill you," Sora told him with that backwards voice all Hollows seemed to possess. "She cries your name at night, even as she has those nightmares. Why does she think so much about you?"

'Yep, the bitch is involved in this,' Shirosaki confirmed with a manic grin.

'Shut up, you pale maggot!' yelled Ichigo, upset that Shiro had once more slandered _Amemitsukai._ 'Keep quiet so I can concentrate!'

"Ichigo, look out!" Rukia warned a distance away.

He growled in aggravation as one of Sora's clawed hands came at him. The future First Division captain jumped out of the way as the ground broke and leapt into the air with every intention of slicing the Hollow's head off. Sora slithered backwards as Ichigo cracked the concrete with his attack, but then jumped to the side as another splotch of acid covered the area he had formerly stood on.

Ichigo stood in the same spot with his sword forward as he thought. Should he purify Sora now? It might save Orihime from a good deal of possible damage, but there weren't any other advantages. But if he were to let him live…

Acidwire charged at him with his mouth agape, hoping to devour Ichigo, but his target leapt out of the way and countered by hitting his face with the blunt side of his sword, making the Hollow stumble backwards. Before Sora could get his bearings straight, Ichigo was already upon him. His eyes widened briefly before the strawberry had cut a chunk of his mask off.

He roared as pain washed over him, and without a second thought, Sora through the boundary between the Living World and Hueco Mundo.

"You idiot!" Rukia shouted. "Never cut just a piece of the mask! It reveals the being underneath and exposes them! If anything, it only pisses them off more!"

"I know where he's heading," Ichigo said. "His target is Inoue."

"What makes you say that?" Rukia asked.

"Because that was her brother."

Rukia looked shocked for a split second, but then went back to a game face. She nodded and then began to head in the direction of their destination. "Well, let's get going or otherwise Inoue-san will have her soul devoured."

Ichigo silently picked her up and leapt across the rooftops- they were going to have to come back to his body later. Even though he was as quiet as a mouse, his mind was a veritable beehive with all of the plans running through his head. That was something else he had to clap himself on the back for; his time as the head captain of the Gotei Thirteen had gifted him with a brilliant, tactful mind, honed by long years of combat.

'Smooth move for letting Sora get away,' Shiro chastised. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he liked Orihime; he always thought of the day when he would become king of Ichigo's body, she would then make one hell of a queen. But he wouldn't openly say that; Ichigo would get mad, and besides, it was good enough that she would eventually be by the current king's side.

'Shut up and take a close look at my plan,' Ichigo quickly shot back as he leapt over a particularly tall tree- he remembered it, it was a sign that they were getting close.

'Oh…Okay,' Shirosaki said, giving Ichigo the feeling in his mind as if his Hollow was raising an impressed eyebrow. 'Are you sure it's going to work? If something happens, I'll blame you.'

'It's simple enough, at least to me. With her having _Amemitsukai_ in her being, I'm going to take a wild guess and say she must have at least experienced a large increase in spiritual energy. If that's case, her powers will awaken early. But this is still all just speculation.'

'I'll still blame you.'

-0-

"Whoa, those are pretty intense dreams," Tatsuki comforted. "Especially that one…"

Orihime just got done explaining to her best friend about the dream she had last night. Like she had thought, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her chest, but there was some sort of underlying sense about them- like as if they were something more than just nightmares.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do," Tatsuki honestly answered, earning a downtrodden sigh from Orihime. "And I especially don't know why they involve Ichigo."

"I wish I knew and then maybe they would stop," Orihime glumly told herself.

She looked up, but what she saw made her mouth drop. A large hand was coming out of the floor, ready to grab Tatsuki. Out of panic, she grabbed the dark-haired girl as the hand came crashing down, smashing the couch.

"What the hell?" Tatsuki yelled in surprise, going on guard as Inoue let go of her.

Finally the beast came out of the floor, revealing a serpentine monster with a mask like the one she had seen Ichigo don in her dreams, but was so much different at the same time. Part of its mask had been torn away, but black hair covered the exposure.

"Why?" the creature asked. Tatsuki heard a disembodied voice and began to lose her cool. She looked towards Orihime to see that she was shaking like a leaf, but looking at a particular spot. What was going on?

"Why do you not care about me anymore?!" it yelled.

"W-W-Who a-a-are you?" Orihime nervously asked, taking a couple steps backwards.

"You know me." Ever so lightly, his hair shifted, revealing eyes that Inoue was familiar with, even if it had been a long time since she last saw the person that they belonged to.

"Onii-chan?" Tatsuki turned to Orihime as if she was crazy. They were dealing with a ghost? She had thought that only Ichigo could see ghosts. And if this was her brother, then why didn't he sound human?

"I loved your prayers," Tatsuki heard the backwards voice say. "But why did they stop? It was because of your friends! Now I'll kill you!"

Sora roared as he dived forward to devour his little sister. Orihime closed her eyes and lightly screamed as she expected to feel the sensation pain, but it never came. She opened her eyes, greeting them to the sigh of her brother's mouth being barred by an oversized katana, held by no other than Kurosaki Ichigo himself.

"Kurosaki-kun!" she shouted in surprise.

"Huh, where?" Tatsuki frantically asked in confusion.

She almost jumped again as she heard another voice enter the mix, this time one that she could recognize anywhere. "Sorry I'm late, but don't the heroes always come at the last minute?"

Orihime felt her eyes widen as she took in his attire. He looked as if he had come straight out of her dreams- if it wasn't for the lack of the white haori, the meat cleaver, or the claymore. It was then she could only question it; could those truly be dreams or something more?

'Alright guys, I need more power. The more I got, the faster Inoue's powers wake up. Rukia might chew me out later for becoming a practical sprinkler of spiritual energy, though.'

'Forget the midget!' Shirosaki yelled while Ichigo watched Sora straighten out. 'I'll give you what I got, but just remember to say please and thank you.'

Ichigo could then feel a rush of spiritual energy enter his being, and evidently Rukia felt it too as she burst through the door, earning looks from Orihime and Tatsuki.

For the Kuchiki, she could feel a tsunami of spiritual pressure. She looked towards the source, only to have a mix of surprise and anger rise in her; surprise that Ichigo really had the much power at his finger tips, and anger because he was going to affect the people around him.

At the moment though, he was battling a Hollow, so the fact that it was a battle kind of made it an ask-questions-later kind of thing. Deciding she couldn't do much, she did the only thing she could think of.

"Alright, kick his ass," Rukia cheered. She was definitely going to need that memory modifier later though.

'Let's make this look good,' Ichigo said in his mind as he jumped forward.

Sora tried to swat him away, but his lithe opponent landed on his hand and smashed him with the butt of his sword, sending him into the wall. Not for the last time in the day, Tatsuki asked what was going on as she suddenly saw a crater appear on the wall.

"Please Kurosaki-kun," Orihime pleaded, "it's my brother; help him return to normal!"

It felt like music to his ears to hear her voice. Ichigo stared at her, taking in every inch of her being. The last time he had seen her, she had been dying in his arms. With a smile, he nodded his head; signifying that he promised her to bring her brother back from the darkness. First, he had to get her to awaken her spiritual abilities.

He charged forward, setting his sword up for a swing, but instead ended up having to jump out of the way as a ball of acid was launched at him. Ichigo, though, didn't see the tail that swung at him, sending him through the wall and into the streets. Sora followed after, fully intent to kill the person that had replaced him.

"Ichigo-kun!" Orihime shouted, forgoing calling him by his last name. She ran up to the hole in the wall and watched the streets below as Ichigo stood up and faced her Hollowfied brother.

Tatsuki followed, heavily confused, and even more so when she started seeing the blurry outlines of figures. Both of them were slowly becoming clearer, but they moved so fast that they were hard to keep track of. As she ran up to her best friend's side, she looked down at the streets as well; even as she did, she saw the figures only becoming less transparent. One she vaguely recognized as a teen and the other as a monster of some kind.

Rukia went down to the streets, ready to play back up with what little Kido she could use. It didn't suit her taste to be useless, but at the current moment, all she could do was watch.

"What a big brother you are," Ichigo told the Hollow across from him. "I'm like you; I have little sisters too, but I would never willingly harm them."

"But I raised her," Sora shot back. "I cared for her, and what does she do?! She turns her back on me!"

"Wouldn't you want her to move on?" Ichigo continued to verbally spar. "Would you want her to continue to wallow in the misery of your death?"

It gave him satisfaction to see Sora recoil at those questions. Memories of his own life hit him like a sledgehammer as he stared at his enemy. He knew more than anybody what it was like to lose somebody precious, but it was something that one couldn't keep their mind on, otherwise you wouldn't be able to live on.

"You replaced me," Sora told himself, his eyes glowing in anger, "so I'll kill you."

"Try it. If you can." Ichigo narrowed his eyes as he got into a stance that wasn't nearly as sloppy as he was used to doing for the past couple days. He had to make Rukia think that he was still a rookie at what he was doing.

This conversation had a two fold purpose: to knock some sense into Sora and to buy time until Orihime's powers were going to awaken at the same time. By now, they were probably waiting to burst forth, but now she needed to see something that would put a little more stress on her, enough to allow that floodgate to open.

Finally, the figures were crisp and clear to Tatsuki, making her mouth drop at the sight of Ichigo and Sora. This was what Orihime was seeing? Was this what it was like to see ghosts, but if she was seeing ghosts, then what was Ichigo doing there?

Ichigo charged forward, and then suddenly jumped into the air as another acid puddle appeared where he had formerly stood. His sword was poised to strike, but before he could make contact, Sora countered with another swipe of his tail, sending Ichigo into the side of a building.

But all of this was a façade, put on by Ichigo to put more stress onto Orihime- something he didn't want to do, but was necessary. To see him losing or taking damage, it would only make Orihime want to help more, and it was working as she ran downstairs, ready to quail the fighting.

"Where the hell are you going?!" Tatsuki yelled in worry, and then began to follow her.

"Now you die!" Sora yelled as he ran forward to devour the Shinigami.

'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,' Shiro told him, not quite ready to become the meal of a second rate Hollow.

Him, a Hollow at the level of a Vasto Lorde, becoming the snack of another Hollow? Normally the idea was laughable, but today, he didn't know if Orihime was going to awaken her powers in time. What an embarrassing way to die.

'Well, I thought it would work,' Ichigo told him.

'Yeah, and now look where you peanut-sized brain got us.'

"NO!" Orihime shouted as she got in the way.

Before Sora could drive his teeth into her, a sudden burst of spiritual energy racked the nearby area. Acidwire was blown backwards while Ichigo smiled in the smoke; it was a close call, but it all had been worth every second.

"Inoue-san/ Orihime!" Rukia and Tatsuki shouted at the same time, wondering what just happened. Both of them came to a stop at the edge of the battlefield, almost on their toes in worry.

A small wind picked up and scattered the smoke, revealing Orihime to be completely unharmed, but six bird-like things were floating around her. With wide eyes, the strawberry blond watched them as they fluttered about.

"Hey, she can she see us!" one of them shouted.

The one that talked moved up close to Orihime's face, revealing it to be Shun'o- or at least to what Ichigo could recognize.

"Hello, Orihime!" she greeted. "I'm Shun'o and we are the manifestation of your powers, better known as the Shun Shun Rikka."

"Huh?" the confused girl asked.

Another appeared before her, one that looked meaner than the other and was male; Tsubaki Ichigo remembered him to be. "Let me put this way. WE- as in the little things flying around you, including me- are your powers. Now to beat the crap out of your…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Sora attacked again, giving no time for Orihime to learn the incantations of her new powers. Tsubaki and Ayame watched in horror as he came forward, but a blur got in the way, blocking Sora with just one hand while the other held his sword. Ichigo looked at Orihime and gave her comforting smile, and then shoved Sora so hard that he was thrown into a building- a little technique that his Hollow liked to use every so often.

Orihime smiled back, but as she blinked, everything around her seemed as if someone had taken the remote control and turned it on pause. She looked at her surroundings with confusion, seeing that nobody moved, nobody even breathed, and a single leaf had paused in mid fall.

She was about to ask what was going on, but stopped as she blinked again, this time bringing a newcomer. This person had blue hair, but her face was so much like her own that the two could have easily been twins. Their eyes met; silver to her blue. Orihime couldn't help but feel a connection with whoever this was.

"Who are you?" she finally asked.

Her cherry lips didn't move, but Orihime could swear that she could hear a voice. 'I am a piece of you, like the Shun Shun Rikka.' She then smiled. 'Thank you.'

Orihime blinked at she took in what she had said. "For what?"

Whoever she was, she looked towards Ichigo. 'It doesn't rain anymore.'

She looked back at Orihime and became a silver light, but as she did, the world hit the play button and everything went back to normal. Everyone, including Sora, watched the silver, glowing ball. Finally it slowly made its way towards Ichigo, earning a smile from the aforementioned Shinigami as he took it.

When he did, a second oversized katana appeared in his hand. Unlike his other one though, there was a beauty about it that many might over look. The hilt itself was in the shape of a flower- reminiscent of the ones that Orihime knew that decorated her hairpins- while the blade itself had an ever so slightly sea foam green tint to the steel.

'It's good to have you back,' welcomed Ichigo in his mind.

'I missed you too, Ichigo,'_ Amemitsukai_ greeted back.

Rukia on the other hand looked as if she was having a heart attack. In his hand Ichigo held a second zanpakuto. No Shinigami had two zanpakuto; there were only a few that had duels, but those were still classified as one total sword. How in the nine layers of Hell did this happen?

Tatsuki was confused as well. She didn't have a single clue as to what had happened, and she doubted she was going to find out what for a long time.

Ichigo turned to Sora, neither smiling nor frowning, but now donning the face he had worn in the face of evil incarnate and countless battles. "Sora, I'll purify you now."

There were no ifs, ands, or buts.

"NO!" Sora shouted. "Orihime will die!"

Both of them charged forward like a pair of raging bulls, Ichigo digging both of his swords into the ground, cutting it as he ran. As they met, the game of chicken came to an end as Sora swerved with his mouth wide open, fully intent to devour his little sister. Ichigo was about to pull a _Shunpo_ with the hopes of saving her, but stopped as he briefly saw something in her eyes, something he had seen the last time this had happened.

"Move you idiot!" Tsubaki shouted in panic, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"NO! ORIHIME, MOVE!" Tatsuki shouted.

Tatsuki closed her eyes, expecting the worst, but when she didn't hear any dying screams, she reluctantly opened them. She held her breath as she saw that Sora had stopped short of biting off Inoue's arm; it was slightly bloodied, but not heavily damaged. Her other arm, though, was wrapped around Sora's face.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered while tears began to roll down her face. "I thought that it would have made you happy if I had moved on. I never forgot you; you're always on my mind and I only wanted to make you happy by living."

Those words had brought tears to Sora's eyes. For the first time since he had been Hollowfied, he felt a sliver of humanity enter his heart. He had truly become a monster, and it was only now he felt the thought of becoming something like that hit him.

He blinked away the tears, upset he had come so close to killing the one he had only wanted to protect and care for as a human.

"Forgive me," he whispered as he slithered backwards.

Ichigo smiled, expecting Sora to take one of his zanpakuto at any second and cleanse himself. The only problem with that was he hadn't expected him to open up a portal to Hueco Mundo with his claw.

"My only wish was to be there for you," Sora told them. "But I have only become a monster. For that, I will go away and make sure that I never harm you. Please forgive me, but I'll understand if you don't want to."

"Onii-chan," Orihime whimpered.

"Hey!" Ichigo shouted. "Wait a second…!"

His words disappeared in the air as everyone watched Sora travel to Hueco Mundo.

'Well that's new,' Shirosaki told himself in Ichigo's mind, though he was ignored by his king.

'Great,' Ichigo thought with fear. 'What the hell does this change?'

-0-

"About the memory modifiers," Ichigo began the next day, looking at Rukia across from him. They both were at school and whispering to each other. The day was almost over and the two couldn't wait to head home.

"What about them?" Rukia looked up from her manga, once more upset that she had been interrupted.

"Don't they give memories depending on how well the person will believe them?"

"That's correct. Why do you ask that?"

He looked towards Inoue, listening in on the last part of her explanation of last night.

"I swear!" she told the other girls. "A machine gun toting sumo wrestler came to my apartment and destroyed it! Ask Tatsuki-chan, she was there!"

Her friend looked over at her and shook her head. "Actually, we got in the crossfire of a Yakuza gangster. So stop making up stories." Tatsuki then turned back to her book.

"I know what I saw…" Ichigo thought that Orihime looked very cute when she pouted, but kept the thought to himself.

"That's weird," Rukia all suddenly told herself.

"What?" Ichigo questioned.

"People usually share the memory, like what had happened with your family, but Inoue-san has a completely different memory. Weird." The Kuchiki then turned her attention back on her manga.

Out of the blue, Orihime looked at Ichigo, allowing both of their eyes to meet for a split second. She then quickly turned away and went to her desk for the last class of the afternoon.

'You remember, don't you?' Ichigo thought in his mind as he turned to the blackboard.

In Orihime's mind, the events of yesterday kept playing through her head like a broken record. As well as the thoughts of Ichigo, and the new clothes she now imagined her knight in shining armor always wearing instead of the ridiculous outfit she had thought of while growing up. A black battle kimono, two oversized swords, and a white haori with the number one stitched into the back.

And eyes that seemed to always look into infinity…

Author's Note: This chapter is about average length for me. The last two were me just flexing my writing muscles and getting a feel for writing BLEACH. In truth, it's a lot like writing a Naruto story, but still with a good deal of differences. I only hoped you enjoy this chapter and unfortunately I don't have any major noteworthy things to mention.

The only thing I can warn you about is that updates may come slow. Life can be a bitch and always throws things at you like a monkey with a pile of shit. Cars need gas, and to get gas, I need money; so therefore a job is in order. Thankfully I can feel my car completely up with only twenty dollars and go a whole month without having to again.

Anyways, nothing new, but if I have any original zanpakuto or Bankai, I'll post the info about them as they come up.

For you Jinchuuriki Nine fans, please be patient. The next chapter has a nice surprise for you all.

Sneak Preview: Shirosaki wants out, and unfortunately for Shrieker, he becomes his new chew toy. Chad also gains his powers early but with Rukia's memory modifying, he won't be remembering how to use it.

_Next time:__** The Bird and the Worm.**_


	4. The Bird and the Worm

Chapter 4- The Bird and the Worm

_**Chapter 4- The Bird and the Worm**_

Could she actually touch the doorbell? Her fingers were within an inch of it, but doubt and nervousness stopped her from pressing on it. Orihime stood on the doorstep of the Kurosaki residence, hoping to talk to Ichigo about the other day.

She remembered it, even though she wasn't supposed to. The day when Sora had become something that he wasn't and when she saw Ichigo in his shining armor- although it wasn't exactly shining; if only he had the meat cleaver or the claymore, then he would be as her dreams made him out to be. She did what she normally did: act like her normal self and let her imagination take over. No one suspected anything, at least not that Rukia girl.

Last night, she once more had another one of those visions, one where Ichigo fought someone called Grimmjow. She was standing there watching the whole battle with a young girl named Nel Tu. Ichigo had donned the mask again, but this time she could get a closer look at his eyes, unlike last time. Though they were the citrines set on a canvas of midnight, they held warmth. It felt good to watch him protect her; like a princess that needed saving.

With a prepared sigh, she finally rang the bell. Inoue stood there a couple seconds before she could hear someone scurry up to the door. It opened and there stood Yuzu.

"Hello!" Orihime greeted, slightly nervous to be meeting Ichigo's little sister for the first time. "Is Ichigo-kun here?"

"Are you his girlfriend?" Yuzu asked.

Orihime blushed and found an unusual interest in a nearby bird. "Uh, no; I was just hoping to talk to him about something."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry, but he isn't here. If you want you can stay until he comes back."

"Uh, that's okay; I'll just see him at school tomorrow."

Inoue couldn't help but chicken out on talking one-on-one with Ichigo. It would be embarrassing for her, and she wasn't even sure of what to talk about in the first place; she only just wanted his company.

She stopped her contemplating as she heard Yuzu sigh. "I just wish he would stop running off to nowhere. Every time I go to get him for dinner, Onii-chan is always gone."

Orihime blushed knowing what he was doing. Her crush was out fighting monsters, the ones like what her own big brother had become.

"Well, you'll just have to stop by when he's here." Yuzu suddenly had an idea. "How about you stay for dinner? He's bound to show up."

Orihime didn't know whether to accept or to decline. Against her better judgment, she nodded in affirmation.

"Yay!" Yuzu said in excitement. "The only other girl we get around here is Tatsuki."

Before she could react, Orihime was dragged into the house. It was going to get embarrassing when Ichigo got home.

-0-

Ichigo was not in a good mood. And the two Hollows before him were going to get the brunt of his anger. He didn't care today whether or not Rukia saw he was fighting better than normal; he just wasn't in the most joyous of moods.

All day he had had to keep his temper in check, otherwise his irises would turn yellow, a side-effect of the pact he and Shirosaki had made. Because he had easier access to his Hollow abilities, sometimes small things would slip through when he was experiencing extreme emotions. The moment he saw the hollows, he was tempted to just turn his hands into claws and proceed to rip them apart.

But no; he had to keep up a mask and pretend he was a normal substitute Shinigami.

One of the Hollows attacked, but Ichigo fazed out of existence as the claw came crashing down. Behind the two, the strawberry slowly walked away while unsheathing _Zangetsu_- there was no need to bloody up _Amemitsukai._ After a second, the two Hollows exploded in glorious fountains of blood.

'He's… inhuman.' There was no other word to describe him. Rukia stood next to Ichigo's body, watching his spirit walk up to her with a mixture of fear and awe.

Sometimes she wondered if he was truly a basic Shinigami. Every so often when he wasn't paying attention, he would carry himself like a Captain, and his eyes were always so distant, a sign of someone that had seen horrors that many people had never even thought of. But he laughed and joked like a normal teen at the same time. It was almost as if he was pretending that something awful had never happened before in his life.

Then there was his fighting. At times, he was sloppy enough that he could easily be taken out by an academy student, but other times- especially when he was a bad mood- he fought like a demon, like just now. Two Hollows would be handful for a seated officer, but Ichigo had dispatched them without even staining his sword.

And today, he was in a particularly foul mood.

Of course his list of oddities only topped itself when the extra zanpakuto was thrown into the mix. Almost all Shinigami used just one zanpakuto, but this one- created from the Inoue girl from a couple days before- seemed so different. It was like he was carrying a piece of that girl with him everywhere he walked, even when he was back inside his body.

"Let's go," he simply ordered as he entered his body.

She shook her head in exasperation and followed. Best not to do something that would lead her partner to snap at her like he had been doing all day.

Ichigo shoved his hands into his pockets as Rukia came up next to him. If he had to be honest with himself, he was pissed at his own faults. Even with foreknowledge of what was going to happen, last night had taken a twist that even some of his best battle planners wouldn't have predicted.

He had also broken one of his cardinal rules, and that was to never break a promise. Though he never truly promised that day, Ichigo thought for sure he was going to purify Sora. But that hadn't happened, and it felt like he had done something wrong. Nobody could have predicted that the Hollow would take a different route than last time.

The strawberry couldn't help it as sigh escaped his lips. Rukia was quick to notice it though.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked, stepping out in front of him, and making him stop. He grimaced and for a second she thought his irises had flashed a golden yellow, but dismissed it.

"Ever since the battle with Inoue's brother you've been pissy, and I want to know what's wrong. Besides, what should you be upset about on that day? Inoue's powers had awoken- mainly because you were an idiot and used way too much spiritual energy- and you saved her from her brother. Happy ending; now please get over it."

He sighed again. If only she had an idea of what was going on and what was going to happen, then she wouldn't be saying those things. For a second, he wondered what her reaction would be if he told her about the Orb of Distortion that was currently presiding in her spirit. Rukia might laugh her ass off or just plain panic.

Ichigo decided it be best to play along anyways. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe I'm worked up about nothing."

"Great, now let's get home. I think I can smell your sister's cooking from all the way here."

It didn't take long for the duo to get to the house. Rukia took off for the window that led to Ichigo's room while Ichigo himself went to the front door.

As soon as he came up to the door, he cautiously touched the door handle, thinking that his father was behind it and waiting to sneak attack him. Slowly, he opened it, hiding behind the door as he swung it open, but he didn't see his old man jump out. With a confused look, he peaked inside to see everybody wasn't there.

"What's going on?" he asked himself. Ichigo would have scratched his head, but it wouldn't be very graceful for a head captain.

He treaded lightly, not knowing when his father might suddenly pounce out of nowhere and strike, but as he got near the kitchen, he could hear the voices of his family.

"Are you sure you two aren't going out?" Yuzu asked somebody.

Evidently the person nodded, because he didn't hear an answer.

Suddenly he could feel embarrassment enter the back of his mind. Who the hell were they talking to? Tatsuki? No, they wouldn't ask a question like that to her. He counted off a mental list of people, until finally one stuck out. But that meant…

Ichigo couldn't help it as a ruby blush lit up his face like Christmas lights on a house in the middle of winter. With a good deal of reluctance, he peered around the corner, slow enough that if one listened carefully enough they could hear his neck muscles move.

And of course, there sat Inoue, eating the food that would have been his, had he been here earlier.

"Ah, my boy!" Isshin greeted, turning everyone's attention on him, including Orihime's. "You're late, but we had company so I couldn't kick your ass like normal. Say hello to Orihime-san. I believe you to go to school together."

She meekly waved at him, blushing as much as he was, if not a little more deeply.

How was a future general of the Gotei Thirteen supposed to approach this situation? The girl of his dreams was sitting and having dinner with his family. That would have been normal under different circumstances; after all, this was his family he was talking about. Yuzu and Isshin had probably embarrassed the poor strawberry blond to no end.

For once in his life, he couldn't form a coherent sentence. Inoue thought it was cute for him to open and close his mouth like a fish, and would have enjoyed the sight of it as well if it wasn't for the fact that she was also under his family's microscope as well.

"She says she has something to talk to you about." The eldest Kurosaki suggestively waggled his eyebrows. "Is there something I should know about?"

"WE'RE NOT EVEN DATING!" Ichigo finally shot out, looking horrified at the mere suggestion that they were going to do something inappropriate ('But that's not a bad idea, though,' Shirosaki thought in the back of his mind. He was indeed the perverted half of his king.)

And the whole time, poor Inoue was caught in the crossfire. She didn't know whether to blush or to look upset that Ichigo seemed to not have the same idea as she did.

Finally having enough of his own family, he snatched Orihime by her hand and began to take her out of the kitchen. He led her upstairs and into the direction of his bedroom. Inoue blushed once more at the thought of entering his abode, but evidently he thought it was okay.

Before he let her in, he peered into his room. It wasn't a mess. That was one 'check'. Nothing was hanging off of his ceiling fan. That was another check. Rukia was tinkering with a Rubik's cube and three seconds away from chucking it out of the window. That was a big fat X in his mental checklist.

He turned back to Inoue with a sincere smile. "Give me a couple seconds. My room is a big pig-sty."

Inoue waited on the other side of the door, curious to know what the love of her life was doing. She blinked in confusion when she heard a bat hit something, and then the sound of a slamming closet door.

"Okay, you can come in now," Ichigo shouted past his door.

Inside his closet was Rukia, completely unconscious with a lump the size of the Eiffel tower on her head and a bat strewn on top of her. If Orihime saw her, shit would hit the fan in five different directions.

She took her time coming into his room, taking in the surroundings. This had to be the first time she stepped foot into his home, and she had never expected his room to be so plain.

Inoue politely took a seat on the chair at his desk while he did likewise on his bed. The sour mood that had been plaguing Ichigo had just disappeared at the sight of his angel- even her Arrancar release form made her appear like an angel. Her presence always seemed to have that effect on him.

"So what brings you here?" he casually began, genuinely curious as to what her reasons were to step into his family's home.

She took her time answering, not sure where to begin. After a couple minutes, she finally spoke, though with a much more controlled voice than what he normally thought typical of her, "I thought that night was just a dream at first. But I knew that it couldn't be. Thank you for saving me."

He was now definitely glad he knocked Rukia out, or otherwise she would be throwing a fit right about now and flashing that memory modifier like a crazy kamikaze might with a bomb trigger.

"I know I'm not supposed to remember…"

Orihime was cut off by Ichigo. "It's okay as long as you don't tell anyone. I don't have any problems with you remembering."

She nodded with a sad smile. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but where to begin? Inside her mind, she toyed with the thought of telling him about her feelings, but shoved it back into her head; today wouldn't be a good day to do that. Besides, being at his house wasn't a very romantic environment; especially with the constant threat of his family listening in.

Unbeknownst to her, Ichigo was having the same mental war. The difference though was that he was having a mental tussle with Shirosaki ('Come on! You know you want to!').

Though, he could feel _Amemitsukai_ gently nudging him- unlike Shiro- in the direction of his love, speaking nothing but implementing the thought in his mind. It was only natural for his female zanpakuto to do that. She was a piece of Orihime, after all.

An awkward silence fell on the two, the most awkward Ichigo had ever experienced since his first meeting with the other Gotei Thirteen captains. He remembered the silence; at the time he didn't have a single clue as to what he was suppose to talk about, making the other captains have to wait for him discuss the meeting topics. Thankfully Ukitake Jushiro had been there to guide him or otherwise they would have been there all night.

That was embarrassing, but none of that could prepare him for this. Relationships were a new aspect of life for him; he had yet to even ask Orihime on a date. For crying out loud, he spent a good chunk of his life concentrating on saving the universe; having a girlfriend wasn't exactly the first thing on his mind.

He thanked God that Inoue broke the stillness by clearing her throat. "I've been practicing using my Shun Shun Rikka," she told him with a smile.

"Well that's good," Ichigo praised. It was true; the faster she got a grasp of her abilities, the easier it would be for her to get stronger. "What can you do?"

"Um," she put her finger up to her chin as she listed off all she could do, "I can create a shield, Tsubaki spins really fast and slices things, and I can heal things. I healed a hurt dog this morning."

"It seems you're learning how to use your powers."

She nodded with a smile. For the moment, she was practically living off of his praise. Ichigo always wore a scowl, but it was refreshing to see him smiling; and even more so when approving of her abilities.

Ichigo sat silent for a minute as he thought about Orihime's powers. She could literally 'trespass onto God's territory', as Aizen had once put it, with her powers of rejection. It was because of that power that he stood here, trying to better the future. After all, _Amemitsukai_ was the creation of Orihime's powers.

But her powers, they seemed so simple. There had to be more to it. Chad's abilities, by comparison, were so much more complicated; a set of armor from head to toe that was Hollow based. Inoue's, on the other hand, just seemed too simplistic; she didn't have room to grow. Her shield, her spinning blade, and her healing abilities were all based upon the different combinations of the Rikka…

That was when a thought had hit him, one that geniuses such as Urahara or Kurotsuchi might applaud (if the latter of the two wasn't so sadistic and such a mad scientist running amok). He could admit that at times he could be stupid or genius, but this time topped a lot of things he had done. What if she were to…

"Hey, Inoue," he started, making her head cock to the side with interest, "what if you used, oh say, a different combination of your Rikka?"

She hummed as her eyes traced up to the ceiling in deep thought. "But they only told me about those three things."

"Maybe you could do more," he tried to gently cajole. Inoue required gentle coaxing in order to do things that she might not normally do; he could thank his memories for such information. "What if you used Shun'o and Tsubaki for one combination?"

She knitted her eyebrows at the thought of trying something different. "I'll try," she told him, unsure if this was going to work.

To do something new, no less in front of Ichigo, was a little terrifying. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him, but he was being nice which pushed her to at least try. With a nervous sigh, she decided to give it at least one shot.

Inoue stood up and muttered the proper incantation, only using a different combination. With a final 'I reject!' two of the nymphs flew from her petal-designed hairpins and landed in her hand. In a split second, Shun'o transformed into the handle of a sword while Tsubaki created the blade and the pommel. Her mouth had dropped, now knowing that she was now capable of this.

Ichigo on the other hand grinned in triumph. If only they had known about this earlier! Orihime's powers were unique to an extreme caliber; there were so many different combinations it wasn't funny. The possibilities were endless!

Though, something about the sword Inoue was holding caught his eye. It was eerily reminiscent of the one he had seen her wield in the future during 'the incident'.

She experimentally began swinging it around, but out of sheer clumsiness that only Orihime could pull off, the sword swung into a vase. It didn't break, but shook itself for a little bit while she stared in horror at notion of it breaking. Finally, it stopped spinning and sat relaxed, earning a sigh of relief from the excessively busty girl.

"I really think you should put that away," Ichigo suggested with wide, wary eyes. He knew Orihime was hazardous with a weapon in her hands, but this was just plain ludicrous.

"Maybe I should," she considered aloud. The two sprites then returned to her hairpins where they belonged until the next time they were used.

"Well, I really think you should head home. That, or suffer more embarrassment from my family," Ichigo told her, burying his face in the palm of his hand. Sometimes it didn't pay to have family members around. He then lifted his face up with a smirk. "Make sure to also practice a bit more."

She happily nodded, exuberant over the fact that she was getting praise from her love. They both quickly said their goodbyes before Ichigo's family could barge in or listen in on their conversations.

As soon as Inoue Orihime was gone, Ichigo dreamily took in a deep breath, thinking of nothing but her. She would become stronger; then maybe she could stand by his side, no matter the threat. He promised himself that she wouldn't die; and if he made promises, he always kept them.

Ichigo steeped himself into a daydream involving Orihime and him together, holding hands and smiling at each other. He could only imagine the feeling of his lips against hers. Maybe it was like…

He was prevented from finishing his daydream as his sixth sense- honed by serving as the general of the Gotei Thirteen- suddenly went full force as a sudden bloodlust filled the air.

With alarm, he turned to the source to see Rukia stepping out of the closet, holding the bat and looking pissed beyond any time he had ever seen her before- past, present, and future. Probably even more than the time Renji had accidentally torn up her favorite Chappy the Bunny stuffed animal (although it was still up to debate whether or not it really was 'accidental'). Kido and Bankai had been flying all day long that time at their house.

"You know," Ichigo nervously tried to mollify her, crawling further onto his bed in a futile attempt to escape, "I have a perfectly good reason for that little incident."

If anything, it only added more tick marks to her forehead.

'Shit,' Ichigo thought with wide eyes as he backed into his wall. 'This is really going to sting.'

Karin, Yuzu, and Isshin suddenly looked up at the ceiling as they heard several loud smacking noises from the floor above.

Unknown to the other two, the vase that Orihime had almost smashed had split down the middle with a cut that was near perfect.

-0-

Ichigo showed up the next day, bruised and covered with numerous bandages. Rukia carried an icepack everywhere she went, using it to lower the swelling of her knot and to hide it at the same time. "I could heal you," Orihime had whispered to Ichigo before school had began, but he turned down the offer saying that it was too much of risk about people finding out about her powers.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Keigo had asked.

Ichigo just turned to him with eyes that clearly said that he didn't want to tell, but felt a good excuse come into his mind. "I got attacked by a midget with a baseball bat. Normally I would have won, but I got ambushed."

"Ooh, that sucks; and a little embarrassing at the same time."

At the other end of the classroom, Rukia glared daggers at him.

"And what's with you?" Keigo asked, turning his attention to Rukia.

The Kuchiki smirked, knowing it was her turn. Ichigo watched expectantly. "Some ugly, orange-haired freak came out of nowhere." She sniffed for added effect. "I didn't see his face, but his breath stunk so much and I think his teeth were covered in green fuzz."

"That's awful!" Keigo shouted; looking down right shocked that someone might have the audacity to do such a thing. He had taken her excuse like a fish to bait on a hook.

Rukia smirked as she dropped the act and looked towards Ichigo and what his reaction might be. He wrote something on the palm of his hand and lifted it up for her to see.

_Touché_

The midget part of his comment stung, so they both considered it a draw for the moment.

Ichigo reclined in his seat as he thought about yesterday and his meeting with Orihime. When she had become an Arrancar, she had a large array of abilities at her disposal that many other Hollow-Shinigami hybrids would have been jealous of. But last night, he could see she had all of those powers long before 'the incident'; it was just a matter of getting the right combination of Rikka. That would require a lot of training.

Although it was at his house, he had a chance to confess to her about his feelings towards her. Sadly he cursed himself knowing that he had been much too nervous to ask, and the fact that he got distracted by the major breakthrough in her powers just added to the excuse. Ichigo, a person who had looked the devil in the eyes and then proceeded to kick his ass, was now afraid to ask the girl he loved out on a date; it was embarrassing and he was pretty sure that the Rukia of the future would have laughed her ass off on this one.

With a sigh, he turned to Orihime to see her nose buried in a text book, but had to smile when she would try to take a peek of him whenever she thought he wasn't paying attention. Then with a blush she would concentrate on the book once more as if she had never done a thing. Seeing that only bothered him more, knowing that he was too boneheaded to have noticed her earlier in the first timeline.

As for Orihime, she had once again had a dream. The ones she had been getting lately weren't as extreme as the one she had on the day she awoken her powers, but it was still interesting.

-0-

_Ichigo looked out on the landscape of his mind, finding what Shirosaki dubbed his 'screwed up head.' He stood out on the inverted skyscrapers and wondered why he had been brought here while in the middle of a battle._

_The first thing he noticed off was that it was raining. Shirosaki and Zangetsu both hated rain, and he himself didn't like it much either, but ever since Orihime had died the world had become a sadder place for him._

_His hair slicked back as he stared up at the skies, entranced by the sight of the dark clouds. Despite how sad it was, the sound the rain made as it hit the skyscraper he stood upon sounded almost like music, mournful and comparable to a requiem being played at a funeral. This was what his mind had become as he watched Orihime become trapped in a black coffin._

_Ichigo's wine colored irises moved to the corner of his eyes, though his head didn't budge. Within his sight, he found a person that he neither recognized as Shiro nor the Old Man; but instead found a beautiful young lady untouched by the rain but had a gentle shower of feathers around her being. They shined ivory in the air as they drifted slowly to the ground._

_He recognized her face; it was reminiscent of Orihime's own, but her hair was a flowing cerulean unlike the strawberry blond. Her body was covered by a pale, moon white dress that made her look the part of an angel as well._

"_Who are you?" Ichigo asked as he turned to her._

_She merely cocked her head to the side, staring at him with curiosity._

_After a second, she spoke with a voice that sounded as sweet as music. "I am…" Her mouth moved, but no words came out._

_It was the strawberry's turn to be curious. "I'm sorry, but I didn't hear you. Why is that? Are you a zanpakuto?"_

_Whoever she was, she walked closer to him and then took his hand into her own. He savored the warmth of her tender grasp, unlike his own hand that was frozen cold._

"_You mustn't be able to hear me," she said, shaking her head at the same time. "It's because you are confused."_

"_I am?" he asked, bewildered about what she was doing._

_She nodded her head. "Do you love her?"_

_Ichigo took a step backwards as this person pinned what he had been trying to decipher in his heart. Ever since that day, he had to make sense of his thoughts, whether it was regret that Orihime had died falling in love with the wrong person or that he truly loved her._

_The avatar then saddened at the loss of his hand. "There is no right or wrong answer."_

_She stared into his eyes and he stared back. After a couple seconds of soul searching, the beautiful angel closed her eyes and smiled, one that seemed so soft that it could have melted away the sorrows of a Hollow._

_The angel took his hand into hers once more and leaned in. She then whispered into his ears._

"_Very well," she said. "You do love her. My name is…"_

_-0-_

Orihime recognized her as the person she had seen the night Sora had tried to attack her, but who was she? Inoue was honestly jealous of her; she seemed to know Ichigo more deeply that she did and it only upset her that she could only scratch the surface.

But there was something about her; like the sapphire-haired girl was a distant piece of her, a part of her person that she had given to another living being to keep. Why was that?

Ichigo and Orihime cut their reflections as everyone turned their attention to the front of the classroom, watching as the lofty Chad entered the room. He was as comparatively banged up as Rukia and Ichigo were, but the strawberry captain knew the cause, as confirmed by the caged parakeet under his friend's arm. It looked as if it was time for the Shibata incident.

-0-

Ichigo watched Keigo play with Shibata, making the poor kid repeat what he said. If only Chad didn't have such a weakness for cute things. Orihime had also started to play with the parakeet, but he could see it was just an act; it was obvious she knew that there was a spirit inside the bird.

"You sense it?" he whispered to Rukia. Across from them, Inoue tensed and listened in, still acting as if she wanted to play with the bird.

"Yeah," the tiny Shinigami answered. "Those wounds on your friend are definitely not from a biker. They were caused by a Hollow."

"We'll have to take care of it then."

Hollow? So that's what those evil looking ghosts were. Inoue remembered the sight of her brother Sora and what he had become; what distorted a person so much that they become such an evil creature?

Maybe she could help Kurosaki-kun and find out later.

-0-

"Alright." School had just gotten out and now Ichigo and Rukia were headed out to find Chad and purify the Hollow that was plaguing him. Rukia continued what she was going to say, "Let's head out; I just got the call from Soul Society."

He nodded and followed, but before he could take a step, a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey, wait!" Ichigo looked towards the originator of the voice to see Inoue running up to them.

"Go on ahead," he ordered Rukia, earning a low growl and some choice mumbled words.

The strawberry blond stopped in front of him, panting for a couple seconds before she perked up and smiled.

"Could I help?" she asked with anticipation.

Ichigo blinked his eyes a couple times before his brain analyzed what she had said. Inoue had just asked if she could join him in a battle. But he thought she didn't like to fight.

"Why?" he asked. "I thought you didn't like to fight."

"Yeah, but," she began look away, trying to find the right words, "I remember what happened to my brother and if there is anyone else like them, maybe I could help them return to their original selves. And I want to help you."

Kurosaki's eyes softened as he took in her proposition. He wanted to say yes, but the thoughts of the future were too fresh in his mind. Ichigo wouldn't be able to live on if he saw he die again. Yeah, it may be Shrieker, but he still couldn't stand the mere idea of it. There was always the worst case scenario that could play out.

"Inoue," he told her, regret tainting his voice, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you go. Maybe when you're a little stronger, then you could go anywhere with me, but not yet."

Her eyes fell to the ground below, upset that she had been denied a chance to help him out. But there was something with his voice; he sounded hurt to tell her that, as if he had seen something and he didn't want to see it again. She couldn't help but nod her head in understanding, though it still hurt.

"I'm sorry," he muttered and then ran off to be the hero she dreamed of.

Orihime looked up and watched him leave. Determination glimmered in her eyes. If Ichigo wanted her to be stronger, then she would do just that. She wanted to be able to follow him to the ends of the earth.

She walked away to her apartment, ready to train and try out new combinations of her Shun Shun Rikka.

-0-

'You could have handled that a little smoother,' Shirosaki chastised.

'What would you have done?' Ichigo shot back in his mind.

Currently the future captain was sprinting towards the location he could feel spiritual pressure flying. Rukia was obviously using Kido- something that he once more reminded himself that he hated with a purple passion. Chad still wasn't getting the spiritual energy needed to awaken his abilities though.

'I would have let her come; but no, you had to play the part of a heroic asshole and say that it was "too dangerous",' Shirosaki said the last part in a sing-song voice. 'I thought I was the horse, but then again, the thought of the king becoming an ass can be quite the entertaining idea.'

Ichigo abruptly stopped with a scowl on his face. 'What are you getting at?'

'You never did like me beating around the bush.'

Ichigo then fell to the ground, writhing in pain not because he hit the concrete but because he could feel his inner Hollow trying to take over. He clutched his face as his irises began to slowly turn golden yellow while his other hand grasped his head.

'Since you were an ass to Orihime,' Shirosaki told him, not finding the need to hide his mental grin, 'I'm going to take over for a couple seconds. Don't bother severing the contract you made with me- I know you can do that- 'cause if you do, we lose all the power we worked for. I'm not going doing anything major, just going to turn Shrieker into a bloody mess while I get my lieutenant's powers back.'

Ichigo muttered a curse, but was thankful at the same time that Shirosaki had a liking for Chad. It was because the giant had Hollow based powers that his darker half liked. Finding that he couldn't fight it anymore, he allowed his Hollow to switch places with him.

To anyone watching, they would have watched Ichigo stand up and dust himself off like a normal person, but anyone that was close to him would have noted something off if they had seen his citrine eyes.

'Okay, king,' Shirosaki mentally chastised as if to a five-year-old that had unknowingly got caught with his hand in a cookie jar, 'remember that a horse is always greater than an ass. Now sit back and enjoy the show.'

'If you touch a single hair on…' Ichigo tried to threaten.

'You worry too much. I won't even go near the Kuchiki bitch, and yes, I'll pour out the spiritual pressure because I want my lieutenant to get his powers back.'

Shirosaki smiled as he felt his king recede into the back of his mind, staying quiet and ever so vigilant should he be stupid enough to disobey any rules. The horse could have its way, but only if it did what it was supposed to do.

With an insane grin that would have made Kenpachi proud, he took off in the direction of the battle.

-0-

Rukia and Chad really weren't having the best of times. Chad couldn't see their invisible opponent, making him have to rely on Rukia's eyes, and Rukia herself was useless mainly because her Kido were so weak that they didn't even tickle the damn Hollow.

Speaking of Shrieker, the former mass murder was closing in on them alongside his little leech-spitting minions. Today was his lucky day; a tasty-looking human and a Shinigami together. Though he didn't like getting hit by telephone poles, it was all going to be worth it in the end.

"Now you all die!" Shrieker shouted as he came forward.

"Whoa, hold the phone!"

Shrieker stopped short of his prey and looked at the originator, finding an orange-haired teen with a sly smile standing balanced on top of a wooden fence. The two leech containers he had near there had been impaled by a couple of sharp poles, making the bat-like Hollow raise an interested eyebrow.

"Ichigo, you idiot!" Rukia shouted with a tick mark on her head. "Why the hell are you so late!?"

He lost his grin and replaced it with a look annoyance. The next second, he jumped down next to her.

"Hit me!" he simply ordered.

"Oh, no you don't!" Shrieker shouted, opening his wings and launching himself at him with his mouth agape.

Just as he came close enough, Rukia touched Ichigo with the glove, ejecting him from his body. With a single hand he held up, the strawberry stopped Shrieker dead. With a lazy shove, the brown eyed teen sent his enemy flying into a shed, causing it to explode in a cloud of splinters.

"Grab Ichigo's body!" Rukia frantically ordered Chad. Ichigo needed room to work.

"You still haven't told me what's going on," Chad reminded her. This whole day had turned out awfully weird. Of course, it didn't make him feel better when he saw the shed suddenly explode.

"You'll find out later!" she grabbed Shibata and the two were off.

Ichigo lazily watched as the groaning Shrieker came out of the pile of wood while rubbing his head. The Hollow then spied his targets making a break for it, earning a growl from him followed by an order for his subordinates to give chase. He then turned his attention to the Shinigami before him.

"So you're the real one," Shrieker then smiled. "I knew that little bitch was too weak."

"You shouldn't be smiling," Ichigo warned him while picking some earwax out of his ears.

"I have every right to," Shrieker told him, slowly walking closer. "You're nothing more than a substitute Shinigami. Nothing more than a fly on a pile of dung. I've already killed a couple Shinigami already; what makes you such hot stuff?"

Hearing that, Kurosaki suddenly paused and then slowly turned his eyes on the Hollow. Suddenly the area became saturated with such an intense spiritual pressure that the nearby fences began to crack and groan under the strain. Shrieker fell to the ground, his limbs giving out from under such a force. Around him, he could hear his minions popping like bags of popcorn.

He looked up with wide eyes towards the Shinigami, finding that his opponent's irises had changed from wine brown to Hollow yellow.

"Big talk for such a low level Hollow," Shirosaki told him with an insane grin.

-0-

Rukia stopped dead, making Chad look at her with worry. For the Kuchiki, the spiritual pressure in the air was downright sickening. It only worried her more when she could sense that it had all the telltale signs of a Hollow in it.

"Something wrong?" Chad asked.

Kuchiki didn't answer, but instead hugged herself while she shivered. She couldn't think in a straight line, not with this much power pounding on her like a sledgehammer. Her body went into lockdown as she felt Death itself inching its way over.

'Oh, shit,' Rukia thought, biting her lip. 'This has to be the signature of a Vasto Lorde, but what the hell is something like that doing outside of Hueco Mundo? Ichigo, please be careful!'

Chad then looked behind himself, seeing the blurry outlines of his pursuers coming ever so closer to them. Without asking for permission, he slung Rukia over his shoulders and then began to run as fast as he possibly could. Thinking quickly, he turned the corner, thanking God that the little pests were dumber than a box of rocks as they ran past.

He then sat Rukia on the ground and pinched her, bringing her back to reality for maybe a couple seconds. She looked around in confusion for a second before she suddenly hunched over and vomited.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping some sweat from her brow. "I don't think Ichigo is fighting Shrieker anymore."

"What do you mean?" Chad questioned.

"It's something worse," she simply said before she curled up on the ground. It was too much for her. No ordinary Shinigami would be able to keep their sanity in such a mess, but what was reason enough for a Vasto Lorde to come out of foulest regions of the Hollow world?

She then began to pant, feeling the signs of panic beginning to enter her being. Her body was stiff as a board; the blood in her veins seemed so cold.

"Rukia-san." Chad shook her to get her back to reality, but in her mind, the lights were on but she wasn't home.

Her then heard a squeak and squeal, and turned to greet his eyes with one of the bugs beckoning his team of hunters to follow him. In less than a second, the group was charging for him.

The giant remained calm as he… He could see them! He was actually looking at ghosts like Ichigo!

But it was also at the moment he could then sense what Rukia did. Though, he expected to feel fear like her, but instead it was welcoming, comfortable, almost like someone beckoning him with open arms. The feeling couldn't be explained. It was familiar; that was the only way he could think of describing it.

Chad narrowed his eyes as he saw the bugs coming. He had to protect Rukia and Shibata, and whatever he was feeling was feeding him, making him stronger. Finally as they came close enough, he pulled his arm back. When he punched, there was an eruption of energy that annihilated the hunters into oblivion.

One had barely survived, but it had wide eyes and fell over dead from hyper-tension- like a rabbit that had gotten too scared.

The surge of spiritual energy was enough to bring Rukia to her senses for a couple seconds, allowing her to get a brief glimpse of Chad's armored right arm. 'Shit, not again,' she cursed in her mind and then fell unconscious. Her last thought before she finally passed out was how aggravating it was when Ichigo never listened to her.

Chad was about to walk over to her, but before he could take a step, he fell backwards as his armored right arm disappeared. Before he knew it, he was suffering spiritual exhaustion and was quick to join the small girl on Cloud Nine.

-0-

Shrieker was crawling away; one of his legs had been ripped off while his wings were completely shredded, making all escape nigh impossible. Blood was also spurting out of his mouth, his precious tongue having been reduced to nothing but ashes. All the while, he muttered to the being that slowly trotted over to him to lend mercy to his lowliness.

He screamed in pain as he felt his other leg get stabbed by a sword, holding him in place. The pathetic, broken creature cried even more as he looked behind him, though fear made him to not ever look behind his back ever again.

It was a nightmare made real; a creature that even horror movies would be jealous of. What stood behind him was a humanoid, reptilian creature. Two torn up but usable wings jutted out from its back while a row of spikes jutted out from its spine. Another set had grown from the bones in its arms, getting progressively longer the closer they got to the elbow. A single tail swung lazily behind it while its yellow eyes stared intently at its prey.

It was Ichigo in full Hollow form.

The future captain discovered that as he grew stronger, so too did his Hollow form. After he made the pact with his Hollow, his form was no longer Adjuchas, but more Vasto Lorde-like. His form looked much like his last one, except more humanoid and with a couple added additions that were very handy in battle, like his wings and spikes. His legs had also changed, his feet having become jointed like that of a raptor's, adding to his already impressive speed.

All in all, he no longer looked like a lizard, but more like a demon. It was ironic to him; this form was a foil to his third release.

His mane-like hair swayed from behind him as he moved over to grab Shrieker. Under his feet, small craters formed from the raw spiritual pressure. When he got close enough, he grabbed his quarry by his mask, picking him up and tearing off the other leg that had been stuck to the ground by his sword.

"You pathetic piece of shit," Shirosaki told him in his backwards voice. "You're an embarrassment to all of us Hollows. But what to do with you? I know!"

He pulled back one his clawed hands and pointed two fingers at Shrieker, making the lesser Hollow cringe. At the tips of his fingers, a small dot, no larger than a marble, glowed white and began to rapidly spin, making raw spiritual energy ray off of it.

"In the future," Shiro explained, "I had no special powers like other hollows, and even if I do, I don't know what the hell they were, are… or…whatever. So I experimented with basic Hollow powers and created attacks that many of the Espada would have been jealous of. I mean, after all, Cero and the like are the equivalent of the Shinigami Kido, so why not have a little fun with it?"

Shrieker gulped. "What are you going to do with me?"

Shiro laughed as his Cero turned scarlet. "I'm going to use one of my most powerful Cero attacks. It concentrates the Cero into a thin beam no thicker than a needle, but I can swing it wide arcs and cut everything it comes into contact with. Do I have a name for it? Not quite yet, but do enjoy it, because after this, I'm going to purify you and then send you to Hell where you'll see me every waking minute of your existence."

"NO, WAIT…!" Shrieker tried to convince.

It was too late for bargaining as the thin red beam shot into the air. Shiro swung it around, splicing houses and anything unfortunate enough to get caught by it. Finally, it went through Shrieker, splitting him in half from the torso and painting the area in a crimson mess.

Finding no more interest in his prey, Shiro let him go and picked up Zangetsu. He then proceeded to slice off the mask Shrieker wore, prompting the gates of Hell to come out of the ground. The large skeletal hand came out from the doors, but instead of using a knife, it just picked up all the scattered pieces of Shrieker in one go. For the entire time, the Hollow screamed in fear and pain as the doors shut from behind him.

Throughout eternity, Shrieker's time in Hell completely compromised of him being haunted by the mere sight of his killer. His ever waking nightmare always involved yellows eyes set on a background of ebony.

Shiro laughed as his form fell away like broken porcelain, revealing him in Ichigo's body, with the only change being his Hollow eyes.

'Alright King,' he said in the back of his mind, 'I've had my fun.'

With that, he retreated to the back of Ichigo's mind, but his king was far from pleased- as noted by the angry look he wore.

'YOU SHITHEAD!' Ichigo screamed in his mind. "Now all of Soul Society is going to be after our asses! After that little show, they're probably going to send our own satellite into space to track us!'

'Whoops.' Shiro had the decency to actually be embarrassed. 'I guess I got carried away, heh.'

'Shit!' Ichigo shouted in his mind. 'Now they're going to send someone a lot earlier. We have to be more careful from now on. Shit!'

Ichigo repeated the mantra in his head all night, even as he used the memory modifier on Chad.

-0-

"So what was that?" Rukia questioned later that night. "I mean you did see a Vasto Lorde, right?"

Ichigo stared out his window, as if he was waiting for someone to show up out of nowhere. He had his usual scowl on his face, but this time it seemed to be more ominous than usual. His narrowed eyes scanned the rooftops surrounding them- like a hawk might when looking for intruders in its territory.

"I did," he lied. "The monster interrupted the fight, but didn't stay long."

"I'm just surprised you got out of that alive. Even our strongest would have had trouble with one of those. But what would have made it want to come out of Hueco Mundo like that?"

"I told you, I don't know what the bastard wanted. He just tore Shrieker apart, saying he was an embarrassment to all Hollows," Ichigo lied again.

"Well, what was his name? Maybe when Soul Society sends more Shinigami for this it might help them."

For a couple seconds, he contemplated whether or not to tell her Shiro's full name.

'Tell her!' his white skinned foil yelled. 'I want every bitch and son-of-a-bitch in Soul Society to fear me like they did in the last timeline!'

With a reluctant sigh, he told her. "His name was Shirosaki."

Rukia could sense the disinclination in his face. "Wait, why were you hesitating if you knew?" She narrowed her eyes. Something fishy was going on.

Ichigo saw her suspecting glare and mentally slapped Shiro, earning a few choice words from his Hollow- he would do it to himself, but he felt the Hollow deserved some abuse after his stunt today. Rukia was always one to sense things about him that he didn't know about himself. Sometimes he thought it funny how the two of them knew more about each other than they did themselves.

He thanked God as his mind suddenly conjured up an excuse, one that he could tell _Zangetsu_ felt he should use. "He didn't have a name before, so he took part of mine, because he felt like it could make Shinigami fearful of him or something."

In his mind, Shiro nodded in approval.

"Well, he did a damn good job," Rukia muttered.

Rukia allowed her mind to wonder as she stared out the window as well.

It was probable that Yamamoto-Genryusai-dono was currently racking his brains on the proper course of action. The probability that a Vasto Lorde would step out of Hueco Mundo was as low as odds could possibly go, but evidently this one had gotten bored in the Hollow realm and decided to go for a stroll in the human world. It would only be natural that everyone in Soul Society had knees that were shaking wildly.

It wouldn't surprise her if some of the newest recruits shit themselves silly.

An uncomfortable silence hung on the two; Rukia was curious as to what happened while Ichigo was trying his best to keep his mouth glued shut.

"So did it go back to Hueco Mundo?" she continued to grill.

"I don't know," he answered, letting some of his aggravation seep through his voice. "I was knocked out when it left."

"Great," the Kuchiki muttered under her breath. She still didn't understand why such a being would want to come out of the deepest reaches of Hueco Mundo; not that she would want to know. Maybe it was hunting someone.

"What did it look it like?" she asked, allowing as much curiosity to enter her voice as possible. It wasn't everyday that such a monster stepped out of the deepest reaches of purgatory; and even rarer to see it and live to tell the tale.

Ichigo looked at her with a face scrunched up in aggravation, but his face softened as he saw she was genuinely interested. It shouldn't have surprised him; probably the strongest Hollow she looked at was a Menos Grande- those were boring to him anyways.

He turned back to night sky as he caved. "It looked like a cross between a buffed up human and some kind of a lizard. He had a tail, torn up wings that still allowed him to fly, spikes that came out of his arms and back, jointed feet like a dinosaur, and a large mane. His claws were also pretty nasty-looking too. Shirosaki was fast; I couldn't keep track of him as he ripped Shrieker apart."

Rukia blinked and didn't say anything. If Ichigo had to guess, she was contemplating some more about what she heard. That was another trait Rukia had that he absolutely liked, but was currently annoying him to Hell and back; she was analytical almost to a fault. She chewed up information until she got every last bit of the flavor, and then acted on it.

For a second he was worried that she would make it her mission to go out find him, but had to prevent himself from sighing in relief as he saw her yawn and open the closet door.

"I'm headed to bed," she simply said, then shutting the sliding door from behind her self.

Ichigo was about to shake his head in exasperation, but instead turned his eyes back on the outside buildings as he sensed Spiritual Pressure coming from two Shinigami, fresh from Soul Society. He was about to scowl, but instead settled for smiling as he sensed the signatures a bit deeper.

To his luck, Yamamoto had sent the two captains that Ichigo knew were going to be necessary allies in the fight against Aizen- captains that had once been some of his most loyal friends on and off the battlefield.

He snickered as he thought how stupid the current general of the Gotei Thirteen was. Back in the future, he had made it a cardinal rule to never let those two go on missions together unless he was there to mediate- unless he actually wanted the two to annihilate the surrounding the area.

-0-

"Why the hell did they send you?" a man, tall in stature, said to the woman that walked up next to him from the gate- a lady that was much more petite than he in the first place. "I could have done this by myself," he grumbled, earning a disapproving look from the other captain. "After all, I can't remember when I last had this much awesome action."

"Zaraki Kenpachi," the stern woman chastised, putting her hands on her hips, "you know as well as I do that Vasto Lorde are dangerous. It's a rule that…"

She became annoyed- though she didn't show it- as he finished her sentence, "… in the case of a Vasto Lorde arriving in the human world, two captains are to be dispatched to take care of it." The spiky haired captain pointed his finger to the back of his throat to prove his point.

Unohana Retsu was not a woman known for her temper, but there were rare cases where she let it slip. She stepped on his foot, hard enough that even Zaraki's hardened skin couldn't stop the pain. It was a mystery to even to her self, but Kenpachi always had the effect of pissing her off whenever he was in her presence.

After a couple seconds of dancing on one foot, Kenpachi stared daggers at her. "Woman! If you…"

He backed off as she smiled a smile so devious that many of the greatest warriors would shake in their boots. When she smiled, it meant to shut up or otherwise suffer.

As the head medic of the Gotei Thirteen, Unohana knew things; things about people that could easily ruin their reputations. It was a rarely known fact that Toshiro sucked his thumb when he had nightmares; she also knew that Byakuya had a cavity, and she also knew that Soifon had found out after…

…well, that was info best kept to her self.

Point of the matter, she had more blackmail material on her hands than any living being on Earth, Soul Society, or any stupid Hollow in Hueco Mundo- and that was if it was all put together. Thankfully, she was kind enough to never tell anyone about such trivial things; Kenpachi was the only exception- she needed a way to control him if they ever went on missions together.

Because of this, Kenpachi shut his mouth and looked straight ahead. If any of his soldiers found this out, they would never let him live it down. The most badass of all captains feared the head woman of the very division they bullied the most.

"Alright, let's go," she ordered.

She leapt off the building, and Kenpachi unwillingly followed, but not without letting a couple curses fly here and there.

Author's Note: Well, this will probably be my last quick update for a while. I feel my Naruto fictions calling me once more. Writing this story has been very refreshing though and has relieved the monotony that was starting to set in when writing my other stories. Don't expect another update for at least two weeks maybe less if I have extra time on my hands.

Well, we have seen Ichigo's Hollow form. Yes, I know I have yet to write a major action scene, but please bear with me. The next chapter should feature the most yet. It will be the Grand Fisher battle, but with a major twist. I'm going to go ahead and skip over the Kon incident for a couple reasons. That part will be more useless than anything for me to write.

Kenpachi and Unohana have entered the scene! These two happen to be some of my favorite characters (especially Kenpachi!) and I liked the idea of getting them in earlier. The next chapter will show some more of their dysfunctional working relationship, but don't expect any action with them yet; that will come later.

If you found any parts entertaining, please point them out. I try to put in as much humor as possible because I aim to have stories that aren't too angsty. I can't stand stories like that.

I would like to thank _17__th__ Immortal_ for his help. His translations are really handy and this story wouldn't be progressing as fast as it is without his help.

Sneak Preview:_ Grand Fisher makes his appearance but Ichigo isn't the one who takes the show this time. Instead, a new Shinigami is created, one that will push Fisher to his limits and more._

_Next Time: __**Just Like You**_


	5. The Snake that Cried Snow

_**Chapter 5- The Snake That Cried Snow**_

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques was by himself, walking to nowhere particular. He liked it that way. The jaguar-shaped Adjucha didn't mind his posse, but there were moments when he liked to go about without any company at all.

He looked overhead, staring at the always dark sky and the moon that cast an eerie glow across the endless white dunes. No stars existed in the sky, no major source of light. Crystalline trees and the occasional rock were the only things to serve as any sort of landmark. Here, only Hollows lived, always hiding in the shadows from another stronger, hungrier Hollow.

It was… kind of depressing.

For a moment, he entertained the idea of heading to the Living World and raising some hell, but then thought better of it. Only the weak Hollows ventured to that place, where they faced the constant threat of being purified by the damnable Shinigami that patrolled the place. As entertaining as it sounded to fight a couple of the Death Gods, it would get boring, at least until they sent someone strong enough to terminate him.

Grimmjow stopped and sat on his haunches, his tail flicking and curling lazily behind him. He hadn't stopped to relax, rather to think. Grimmjow wouldn't mind being the first to admit he wasn't one to think in-depth about things, despite his smooth, cat-like mannerisms, but he had moments where he stopped and pondered.

Aizen Sosuke had approached him recently, promising him power in exchange for his service. The thought of actually becoming an Arrancar had sounded nice to Grimmjow, jumping from the Vice-Captain level of a Shinigami to something akin to, or possibly even stronger than, the legendary Captains.

But it disturbed him that a Shinigami, of all things, actually had the balls to step into Hueco Mundo. Aizen had been by himself, and yet other Hollows, even several of the Vasto Lordes, followed the man without hesitation, praising him as the king of Hollows. Grimmjow, on the other hand, couldn't give a rat's posterior about that; the only reason he was wary of the Shinigami was because he knew Aizen could tear apart just about anything he saw. It didn't take any special sensing ability of any kind to know Aizen wasn't an average Shinigami.

Still, Aizen had been promising to make him an Arrancar once he got his hands on some piece-of-shit orb, maybe even one of the Espada. The allure of power attracted Grimmjow like a fly to honey, like a Hollow to fresh souls. He had seen the so-called 'Ten Swords' and knew of their power. Oh, how he would love to say that he was stronger than everybody.

Most of all, he wanted to rip out the eyes of every bastard that looked at him like they were actually going to win the fight.

Satisfied of his couple minutes of pondering, the Menos stood and began to walk on. He didn't know where his legs were taking him; just that there was a direction he instinctively wanted to go.

-0-

It had been a quiet couple of weeks for Ichigo. The Hollows in Karakura Town seemed fewer than normal, but he knew that wouldn't last very long. Even now he was getting restless for a fight, partly because of the frustration building up in him.

He absently tapped his pencil against his desk as he half-heartedly listened to his teacher drone on about mathematical formulas and algebraic equations and other stuff that he only bothered to pay half an ear to. It was murder to have to sit through this whole thing and at least fake listening to what was going on, especially since he had had to go through this same lesson once before.

At least on the bright side of things, it wasn't Shunsui Kyouraku's so-called attempts at 'love poetry'.

Ichigo stopped his pencil-tapping long enough to shudder. Why the hell did he have to just bring that up? The idea of chewing off his own leg was more entertaining than having the Captain of the Eighth Division spout off some piece-of-crap poem.

Returning to his annoying desk-tapping again, he vaguely wondered about the other captains of the Thirteen Court Guards. In all honesty, he thought that the higher rank and more powerful a person became the more eccentric they turned out to be. Kenpachi was a perfect example, although Retsu Unohana and Jushiro seemed to be the only exceptions. Sajin Komomura had his looks, though his personality was more or less normal, if a little excessive. Toshiro acted like a brat, though only on occasion, thankfully. Shunsui's personality… was indefinable, for which Ichigo was thankful. Byakuya seemed to have a permanent stick up his ass. Soi Fon had… weird obsessions about her predecessor; Ichigo decided that the less he knew about those the better off he was. Mayuri Kurotsuchi was a mad scientist, pure and simple.

And that wasn't even including the Vizard! The whole lot of them was crazier than a box of mixed nuts. At least most of the lieutenants seemed normal… Most of them.

Ichigo snapped out of his daze as his pencil was suddenly snatched from his hand. He found Rukia in the desk next to him, gripping it tightly in both hands as she sent an irritated glare at him that would have made Renji run for the hills. Faster than even his eyes could track, she snapped it in half and handed it back.

Oh, yeah. He'd forgotten that pencil-tapping was one of Rukia's top ten pet-peeves.

It had been one of those meetings in her Thirteenth Division office when he had discovered that little quirk. She'd been going over some random information, serving only to make Ichigo bored. The moment he'd begun tapping her desk, Rukia had turned the pencil into mulch with a Kido and threatened to do the same to him if he ever did that again. Needless to say, he had turned it into a habit of tapping something with a pencil every time she was nearby.

And out of habit, he pulled out another pencil and started tapping the desk again. Rukia slowly turned to him, a tick mark appearing on her temple and her left eye twitching in aggravation. She'd kill him later.

After another five minutes, Ichigo felt like he was going to fall asleep on his desk as he continued to listen to his teacher's monotonous voice. Just before he could fall asleep, he thanked God that Shirosaki broke the silence.

'Just a thought here,' Shiro wondered 'aloud', the mental smirk visible in his voice. 'Bu how do you think Unohana and Zaraki are getting along? Putting those two together? Entertainment at its finest! We should go find them… and bring popcorn.'

Ichigo perked up. How could he have forgotten that?

'Because you have shit for brains,' Shiro answered mockingly.

Ichigo ignored the pun. 'We can't let them think they're on a wild goose chase.'

The antithesis raised an eyebrow as he picked up the future general's line of thinking.

Ichigo instinctively rubbed his chin in thought, Rukia next to him raising an eyebrow at the seemingly unnecessary gesture.

'What are you thinking?' he wondered, clearly interested in what Ichigo was going to say.

'Well, we can't let them leave quite yet; they can still be useful,' Ichigo replied, more to himself than other, but then he turned his attention to his inner Hollow. 'How about raising some hell?'

Shirosaki immediately began begging like a dog waiting for a treat.

Given enough time, the two dysfunctional Captains would return to Soul Society once they determined their search for the Vasto Lorde wasn't getting anywhere. That, however, wasn't what Ichigo wanted. He needed them.

Ichigo also had no doubt that Aizen was setting his pieces up on the board. Ichigo, on the other hand, was moving slowly and cautiously. He had the advantage; he knew Aizen's would-be every move, and what the traitor was going to eventually do. That in mind, Ichigo was preparing a trap that spanned the entire board; and when that single decisive moment came, Ichigo himself would move in to deal the finishing blow. His first meeting with Aizen at the executioner's stand was where it all began the last time…

… and that was where it was all going to end, once and for all.

Ichigo smirked. Besides all of that, he was getting bored lately with the lack of action anyway. Fighting two Captains straight from Soul Society sounded like the perfect cure for the monotony.

"Why are you smirking?" Rukia whispered cautiously.

Ichigo blushed in sudden embarrassment; he'd forgotten he was still in public.

"No reason," he answered flippantly, but inwardly, he was as giddy as his Hollow.

Now he just needed a way to knock out Rukia and steal the glove for a couple of minutes.

-0-

Grimmjow padded his way smoothly through the underground forest. Only a few minutes ago, he had come to the conclusion of where his destination would be. There were plenty of Hollows here for him to devour, especially in this one area he had discovered awhile back.

Even as he walked, Grimmjow took a moment to admire the massive crystal pillars that stretched even through the world above. They were beautiful works of Hueco Mundo, a piece of art in a world of everlasting suffering. The flawless white color of the crystal was a stunning contrast to the blackness of a Hollow's soul.

Grimmjow shook himself and continued onward. He wasn't one to be poetic, nor did he intend to ever be.

His destination was a haven for Menos-type Hollows called the Angel's Sanctum. Supposedly, it had been made a sanctuary by unwritten compact by the strongest Hollows of Hueco Mundo, a place where even the weakest of Hollows could rest in peace. Only one rule existed in the place: if any a Hollow was harmed by another, regardless of reason, the aggressor was to be destroyed or devoured on sight.

Grimmjow had no intention of harming another of his kind for the moment; he had been walking continually for the past week. Even a Hollow of his caliber required rest every once in a while from walking and hunting. The Angel's Sanctum was to be nothing more than a checkpoint on the way to his favorite hunting ground.

Coming up to a wall of white stone, Grimmjow turned, looking for the sanctum's entrance. Turning his head to the left, his eyes fell upon the cave that would lead him to the place of rest. Slowly, he ambled over to the entrance.

The tunnel itself was dark; only streams of moonlight illuminated the long path. Crystal stalagmites and stalactites dotted the landscape, scattering what little light permeated in the place into intricate, beautiful patterns. But Grimmjow didn't paid no notice to such things; he just wanted rest.

As he neared the end of the tunnel, a scent he knew all too well assaulted his keen nose: It was the smell of fresh Hollow blood. He snorted in amusement; some other moron must have decided to break the peace. And by the smell of things, the bastard had been mauled and then ripped to shreds.

But as he drew closer, the smell grew stronger, almost overwhelming. Grimmjow's nose wrinkled in disgust. He stopped as he tried to figure out what was wrong.

That was far too much blood to be only one Hollow.

Grimmjow half-sighed, half-growled, knowing the disarray was going to attract a Vasto Lorde to clean up the mess and reassert order.

Curious, he continued onward. He stopped just short of the line of light that signaled the entrance of the sanctum, suddenly hit with an onrush of an ominous feeling. His eyes widened as he suddenly identified it as bloodlust, but it had been so intense that it could have been easily mistaken for Spiritual Pressure.

Silencing his rational side, Grimmjow felt himself growing curious as to what monster could possibly have such a bloodlust. To produce such a monstrous feeling… The beast in the cavern just ahead had to be massively powerful. For an instant, he wondered if maybe it was a Vasto Lorde itself that had broken the pact.

Narrowing his eyes, Grimmjow moved forward, and stepped into the Angel's Sanctum. He just hoped curiosity wouldn't kill the cat this time.

Streams of light flooded the massive cavern, reflecting off of the crystal pillars that supported and held up the ceiling. There were hundreds, thousands of niches, crevices, cracks, and ledges that lined the walls of the cavernous space, places where weaker Hollows could live safely without the ever-present threat that a Hollow's presence brought with it.

Yet even the majesty of the room was not comfort now, as the sight before him made even Grimmjow recoil in horror. Every square inch of surface was splattered with blood. Mangled body parts of other Hollows were strewn about, only adding to the bloody ambiance. Crimson-black stained almost every inch of white within the place.

And as if to showcase the gruesome tableau, a single beam of light fell upon the only living Hollow in the entirety of the Angel's Sanctum, hungrily devouring the remains of another Adjuchas-class Menos.

It was a demon in a sanctuary of angels.

Grimmjow shuddered as he beheld the sight of what was probably the cause of the massive slaughter. Before him was obviously another Adjucha, one with the visage of a snake more than twenty feet long. Its neck was decorated by scales that looked like a mane of horns; its mask held six eye holes, but only two of them held its irises.

The eyes were what had truly surprised Grimmjow; one was the common yellow on black, but the other was silver set on white. The pantheresque Adjucha was surprised that it was even possible for a Hollow to have mismatched eyes.

The snake reared up as it swallowed the last of its meal with an audible gulp, and seemed to coil up to rest, yet its eyes kept searching all over for more prey. "So… hungry," the Hollow quietly hissed to itself. "Not enough… More… I want more."

Then its mismatched eyes landed upon Grimmjow, and the panther stepped back in caution as all of the bloodlust in the air suddenly turned onto him. The snake uncoiled itself, and then stood upright with a third of its length. Several of the scales on its neck jutted out and upwards, creating a hood of horns.

So it was a cobra; somehow, the knowledge made the thing even more terrifying to behold.

Grimmjow made no move at the sight of the monster, but privately he was actually worried. The Spiritual Pressure in the air was massive, and it was increasing for every second that passed by. At this point, its power could have been measurable to a Vasto Lorde. By far, this wasn't an ordinary Hollow.

"Who the hell are you?" Grimmjow growled.

The snake flicked out its tongue. "I'm so hungry. I eat… and I eat… but I can never be full. Will you satisfy my hunger?" it said, completely ignoring the question.

"Like hell I will!" Grimmjow snarled, readying to pounce. "I refuse to be someone else's meal!"

With a roar, he jumped at the cobra, but just as he came within distance to deliver a devastating attack, the snake moved its whip-like tail faster than lightning and snatched the cat in midair. Even before he could react, much less retaliate, Grimmjow was further captured as the tail snaked around him, pinning his limbs, and restricting all possible movement.

"You will feed me!" the snake yelled, as if it was in agony from its own hunger.

With a sickening pop, the snake's jaw dislocated itself, expanding its already wide mouth. As it did so, the fangs increased to the size of long daggers that could rip anything, even steel, into shreds.

"Dammit," Grimmjow muttered at the sight of the wide maw. This fucker was going to swallow him whole!

Out of desperation, he began to struggle, doing anything from biting the tail, even beginning to charge up his _Desgarron_. Just as he was slowly descending to his death, and as he readied his energy claws to shove down the snake's throat, a feminine cry resonated throughout the entire chamber.

"_Lanzador Verde!"_

In that same instant, Grimmjow unleashed his attack, shredding the entire section of tail that bound him and released himself. The next second, the snake was sent flying into the nearest wall by a high-speed drill, smashing rocks that quickly cascaded over the monster.

Grimmjow landed next to the spot where his rescuer was situated; all the while he dissipated his long claws. Looking towards the person, he found Neliel Tu Oderschvank, in full release, staring down at the pile of rocks she managed to cover the monstrous Hollow with.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Grimmjow growled.

"Investigating," Neliel curtly answered the panther-like Hollow.

"Okay, then what the hell are you investigating?" he questioned the Tercera Espada.

"This," she pointed a finger at the now rumbling pile of debris. "Aizen-sama assigned me to keep watch over this particular Hollow, after it devoured three Vasto Lordes."

"You're shittin' me!" Grimmjow's head snapped over to the centaur-like Arrancar. "There's no way in hell this prick devoured three Vasto Lordes!"

"It did," she continued, narrowing her eyes as the rubble began to shift even more. "I know because I watched it do so."

The snake burst free of its rocky prison, and Grimmjow and Neliel immediately returned back on their guard. The serpentine creature flicked its tongue in and out of its mouth, tasting the air. Upon sight of the Arrancar and the Adjucha it once again unhinged its jaw, its teeth lengthening like before.

"Grimmjow!" Neliel shouted. "Ready yourself!"

"I'm always ready!" he yelled back sarcastically.

The snake shot forth as if launched from a canon, ready to devour the first one it came closest to.

-0-

"Huh?" Ichigo grunted as he stopped and turned his eyes to the sky.

'Yo, King!' Shirosaki snapped. 'What the hell caught your attention? You're more distracted than Yoruichi with a ball of string.' A silent moment passed before Shiro then added as an afterthought, 'Damn, that bitch is hot.'

Ichigo shook his head at his inner Hollow. And the white maggot called him distracted?

'Sorry, just had a bad feeling all of a sudden," he answered.

He continued walking. Right now, he was trying to find Kenpachi and Captain Unohana. Once he found the two Captains, however, he then would then go into a nearby alley, use the glove on himself, then unleash the white maggot upon the world.

Although, how he managed to get the glove off of Rukia was a story in of itself…

'So, what's got your head in the clouds, then?' Shirosaki prodded.

Ichigo took a second to steer out of the way of a man with his nose buried in a book and a cup of coffee in his hand. Coming up to the side of the building, Ichigo made to lean casually against the wall so he could concentrate on his mental conversation.

'Inoue's brother,' Ichigo quickly answered.

'Oh, yeah! The SOB that managed to get away,' Shirosaki muttered, sending Ichigo the image of him rubbing his chin in thought.

'How do you think it'll change things?' the strawberry went on.

Shiro genuinely couldn't come up with anything. 'Uh…'

'That's what's worrying me,' Ichigo said, watching for his two targets at the same time. 'I feel like I'm playing a game here. Both Aizen and I are setting up the pieces on our respective end of the board.'

'But then Inoue-san throws a random factor that we can't account for on the board now,' Shiro continued for Ichigo.

Even though the Hollow had an 'annihilate first and ask questions _maybe_' outlook on life, there were times where the two of them collaborated. He had to agree with Ichigo for once; Sora added a possible extra element that could bite them in the ass later. It was an amazing how the small things intertwined so deeply into the big things.

'Exactly!' Ichigo agreed. 'It kind of… Just… I don't know. I have a bad feeling.'

'Relax,' Shiro said smoothly. 'You and I both know once a Hollow's mask is damaged, it's a cold day in Hell before it even becomes a Menos. The odds of Inoue-san becoming a Menos are pretty damn low, if I do say so myself.'

'Yeah, and Shinigami aren't supposed to have a third release,' Ichigo countered snappishly. 'The odds may be low, but they're still there.'

Shiro remained silent for the next couple of minutes, staring into nothing while in agitated thought.

Again, Ichigo had made a point. Time travel was a curious subject; thankfully, there weren't too much unorthodox events going on like many people predicted in sci-fi movies and crap like that. Though, one thing was for sure: a simple change was enough to ripple outward, leading to an unpredictable change of events. They both just hoped that nothing serious was going to happen because of the incident with Inoue's older brother.

'Yo! Twelve o'clock!' Ichigo said in his mind. 'I've found them, over by the restaurant.'

'Play time!' Shiro said in a high-pitched, excited voice.

-0-

Yes, Kenpachi was pissed; so pissed it would have made his whole division scream like a bunch of little girls while trying to find a way to mollify him. For when their captain was this mad, it meant that the nearest person's head was going to come off. But the pugnacious man couldn't do such a thing in the particular place that he was eating lunch to alleviate his anger. Especially when _she_ was nearby.

Unohana's seemingly endless patience was also wearing thin. If one were to look closely, she was gripping her tea cup much tighter than was considered normal- as noted by the cracks beginning to form in the handle. She may be well known- infamous even- for unerring calm even in the face of the ghastliest forms of danger, but the one sole exception, the one thing capable of breaking through her façade, was that damnable Zaraki Kenpachi and his aloof tendencies.

The two were currently sitting in a small café on the corner of a street, sitting across from each other. Both had actually agreed to sit there, partially because they needed somewhere out of the way while they seethed.

Unohana wore a white short-sleeved blouse and a long skirt, looking as kindly as one would expect of a person of her nature; Kenpachi, on the other hand, wore his favorite biker-gear that he saved for his trips to the earth, the studded leather adding to his already impressive intimidation.

The two contrasting personalities sitting together at one table were enough to make any passerby raise an eyebrow. Some even wondered how the happy couple got along so well without killing each other- although, if either of the two Captains even guessed that some people might be thinking that, they would have jumped to the other sides of the café and then proceed to join back together only to utterly destroy the poor soul who would even suggest such an atrocity.

"It's been two goddamned weeks," Kenpachi quietly muttered past clenched teeth, "and we still haven't found the bastard!"

"Language," Retsu warned coldly, making the oversized man across from her grind his teeth in aggravation. "Yes, I admit, we have been searching for a while, and yet we still have not found this alleged Vasto Lorde." She took a second to take another sip of her tea. "I almost begin to think it might have been an error."

"Those higher-ups are a bunch of shit-heads," Kenpachi muttered, for once agreeing with her.

Across the café, Ichigo snickered behind a newspaper. Yamamoto-Genryuusai truly was a senile old fart to have paired those two together.

Deciding it was time to implement his plan, the future commander-general of the Gotei Thirteen stepped outside. A massive amount of Spiritual Pressure would be more than enough to get their attention.

The two captains sighed at the same time. With a growl, Kenpachi put his head down on the table while Retsu demurely placed her cup down.

It had been a rough two weeks, to put it mildly. Neither had even liked the idea of having to share the same hotel room, let alone be within a hundred feet of each other. Kenpachi got on Retsu's nerves, she got on his nerves; it was a vicious cycle.

Someone had even had the gall to ask them if they were married. One might have thought that a hundred-million yen vase had broken by the way the two had looked at the poor soul.

Unohana also had an agonizing time, trying to keep Kenpachi's battle-lust on a leash. The man was worse than a rabid dog wanting to tear up anything in sight. Thankfully, a simple reminder of the blackmail material she had on him was enough to make the man calm down for a few hours.

So for not getting his way, Kenpachi would surely find a way to aggravate his partner with a subtlety that would have raised the eyebrows of even the other Captains. There were times that Retsu was so irritated by it that she would counter in her own, sometimes subtle, ways- putting a heel to Kenpachi's toes, or shifting him just enough that he ran into a telephone pole.

Either way, it was a hellish war that no one in Soul Society would want to get caught in the middle of.

"Alright," Retsu caved with a sigh. "I can't take this anymore. I'm going to send a Hell Butterfly to Soul Society and alert them that we haven't been able to find anything."

"And by Enma, you'd better do it quickly," Kenpachi encouraged in his own way.

Just then, a sickening amount of Spiritual Pressure suddenly flooded the area. Kenpachi's head instantly shot up, his signature battle-crazed leer plastered to his head. Unohana made no movement, but her sight moved to the corner of her eyes.

"It seems," she began, an edge to her voice, "that our quarry has appeared."

"Bout' damn time, too," Kenpachi said excitedly as he bolted to his feet, almost knocking over his chair in the process.

-0-

The moment the two entered the alleyway, they immediately shed their Gigai, not even breaking strides as the faux bodies ejected out from behind them. Unohana and Kenpachi ran at high speeds, jumping over garbage bins and boxes as they looked for their target; they just hoped they could finish the battle without too much damage… or at least Retsu did.

"Where is he!?" Kenpachi demanded, looking ahead with a grin capable of splitting his face in half.

"I… I don't know.

The two Captains withheld their conversation, bounding over a fence effortlessly. Unohana landed silently, but Zaraki had to make a show of things by landing on a metal garbage can, accidentally giving his face a one-way trip to the ground. The Fourth Division Captain rolled her eyes as she waited for him to get back up.

She continued the moment Kenpachi jumped back up. "The Spiritual Pressure is the most intense I've ever felt. It's giving me trouble trying to find the source of the signature."

Kenpachi already could feel the skin beneath his eye-patch itch, as if the patch itself were begging to be taken off. This was going to be good.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for!?" the battle-crazed man yelled, maniacally laughing as he chased after the signature.

Retsu watched him turn the corner… and then ran a hand down her face.

The idiot was heading the wrong way!

-0-

Neliel painfully rolled on to her back, clutching her chest as she felt pain with every breath she took. She was no longer in her Resurrecion form, having suffered enough damage that _Gamuza_ had automatically resealed itself. One of her legs was broken, and all arm looked as if she had stuck it in a grinder.

She turned her eyes to Grimmjow. The leopard was lying on his side, clearly also having difficulty breathing. Thankfully, his mask had suffered no damage, but she couldn't say the same for his body. Hundreds of gashes, some deeper than others, littered his body.

Things had not gone as well as they hoped. The snake Hollow had been incredibly fast and strong with a veritable arsenal of powers at its disposal. No matter how much damage they dealt the snake, it would deliver it back five-fold.

Suddenly, a bang resounded in the area. Neliel looked towards the _Negacion_ field surrounding herself and her makeshift partner. She watched as the unidentified Adjucha violently attacked the barrier.

Whoever the monster was, it didn't have a single scratch on it. Its tail had regenerated in the middle of battle; any damage they could deal to it was likewise mended almost instantly. Neliel assumed that it must be the massive Spiritual Pressure that it was pouring out.

If the average Hollow of the same type felt like sprinkler of Spiritual Pressure, then this monster was something more akin to a tsunami. Even some high-level Arrancar could never hope to taste this much power.

"You almost have to be a damn Vasto Lorde to hope to match this bastard," Grimmjow angrily noted as he slowly stood, noticeably limping on one of his back feet. "How long until this_ Caja_ _Negacion_ runs out of power?"

Neliel quickly went through some numbers in her head as she lay on the ground. "About two hours, give or take."

The two turned their heads towards the unnamed Hollow as it suddenly stopped attacking. Upon sight of it, they could see why it momentarily stopped its assault: it was charging up a massive _Cero._ The crimson energy collected just at the end of its snout until it became a violent purple shade. It pointed the basketball-sized orb at its intended targets and fired away, unleashing a destructive purple ray that obliterated everything around them.

"Goddamn!" Grimmjow muttered to himself, watching as the shield around the two was completely enveloped.

"That… was almost on par with a _Gran Rey Cero,"_ analyzed Neliel as she stood, wobbling as she leaned on her katana.

Slowly, the massive attack died down, revealing the snake flicking its tongue out. Determining in aggravation that its prey was still alive, it began to slowly circle the shield like a hungry shark trying to find the best path of attack.

"So," Grimmjow turned to Neliel, raising an eyebrow as he continued, "you're the Espada here; got any brilliant ideas to get us out of this hellhole?"

"Actually," she answered, "I was about to ask you the same thing."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, and then laid himself back on the ground, his eyes watching the mysterious Hollow's every movement. Neliel also took the opportunity to sit down on her knees, her zanpakuto laid out in front of her. The two remained silent; only the slithering of the enemy Hollow broke the quiet.

"We're pretty much fucked sideways," Grimmjow told more to himself, accepting that they accidentally got into a mess they weren't getting out of.

"Not the words I would have used," Neliel said, "but yes. That about sums up our situation."

Author's Note: Too… long… since… last update…

Anyways… Yes, it's actually an update! Let the celebrations begin! I don't know why, but when I hit a writer's block with my Bleach story, it doesn't go away. On top of that, I was a on a serious roll with Shattered Eyes and that took away attention from here. When was the last time I updated anyways?

Okay, the next two chapters are being worked on now. The problem is I'm going back to earlier chapters and adding the material from the recent Manga chapters. That'll take a couple days, but no fear! School is out and I'm on a three week paid vacation from work! It's so awesome!

Although short, this chapter had some good humor. Kenpachi and Retsu are always a riot to write. Shiro is just as fun to write.

Nel and Grimmjow are stuck in a tight situation and Ichigo is about to kick ass and take names. Man, the next chapter is really shaping up.


	6. Paso Doble of Spirits and Kings

_**Chapter 6 – Paso Doble of Spirits and Kings**_

The one known as Shirosaki was growing impatient. Here he was, in full Hollow form and ready to kill something, and yet the two he most wanted to antagonize weren't even bothering to show up! Oh, he was _so_ not in a good mood right now!

Smothering his anger for a moment by brute force of will, Shiro leaned against a fence and crossed his arms, no more than an aggravated groan belying his impatience. He had only just arrived here himself; it was probably going to be another few minutes before the two Captains would appear.

'_I told you,_' the Hollow could hear his human half jeering. '_Didn't I tell you it'd probably be close to an hour till those two got here?_'

'_Shut! Up! Already!_' Shirosaki snarled back, forcing down the need to start shooting off _Cero_s just to bleed off his frustration.

'_Remember?_' Ichigo kept going, undaunted. '_Kenpachi? Worst sense of direction in all of Soul Society? Not that Yachiru was much better, mind, but that's hardly the point! Not to mention the fact our Reiatsu's so damn huge, even Unohana's probably going to have trouble figuring out where the hell we are! Hell, I'll bet she has to cast a tracking Kidō, just to find us!_'

Shiro refused to acknowledge anything his "king" was saying with a response, instead settling for clenching his jaw. To admit that that lame-assed _pacifist_ was right would be the absolute _last_ thing Shiro ever did willingly!

Several more minutes of waiting, and the antsy silence was finally broken with the sounds of garbage cans toppling over. Shiro all but whirled toward the commotion, to the sight of a cursing Kenpachi, trying to disentangle himself from garbage. Unohana followed gracefully after, deftly evading the strewn litter that her comrade had knocked about.

Retsu sighed, expertly suppressing the urge to roll her eyes as she waited for Kenpachi to right himself.

She turned her sight toward the rest of the alley… and immediately froze. Not a dozen meters in front of them was the very monster they had pursued fruitlessly for weeks. The über-Hollow just stood there, head cocked to one side, as if… curious at the sight of two Shinigami.

Retsu's hand moved immediately to the hilt of her zanpakutō, but she refrained from drawing. That the Hollow had not attacked them was odd – unnerving, even, and most definitely out of character for any sort of Hollow – but Retsu knew better than to trust blindly in chance.

Kenpachi came up next, zanpakutō already drawn and resting at his side. Where he had been frowning before, now his face split into a bloodthirsty rictus of a grin, staring hungrily at the horn-masked Hollow before him. Several seconds of waiting passed, and his grin slipped a bit as the apparent Vasto Lorde took no action. A minute later, and it collapsed back down into a frown again.

Another couple of minutes, and no one moved. All three bodies were tense and on guard, even as the adrenaline was surging through them. The only problem was, nobody was making the initiative to attack.

Ichigo, meanwhile, was laughing his ass off.

With an eye-twitch concealed because of the mask, Shiro was finally the first to cave. "**Any day now, people!**" he yelled in his backwards voice, standing up straight and using his hands for added effect. "**I've been bored out of my skull for two weeks, now, and you guys haven't done shit yet! I need some action, here! If I throw you guys a bone, would you do something!**"

Unohana frowned. The Hollow had been using its Spiritual Pressure to lead them around… for the sake of entertainment? This was most definitely _not_ an ordinary Hollow.

"Enma Almighty," Kenpachi grumbled, and then straighten up and shot back, "You haven't done shit either! I'm getting bored, too! I expected to get attacked the moment I saw you!"

"Kenpachi!" snapped Unohana. What was that fool doing? She would have preferred to _avoid_ combat, if at all possible! As incredibly powerful as this Hollow was, she had doubts that even the two of them together would be able to win definitively!

Clearly, however, it was obvious things _weren't_ going to go her way.

Shirosaki's body language seemed to change then; it was impossible to see his true face behind his mask, but to the two Shinigami captains, it was as if the creature was grinning, just as widely and maniacally as Kenpachi, "**Is that all? You coulda just **_**asked**_**, then!**" he crowed, just before throwing his head forward so that the horns were pointed toward them.

A scarlet _Cero_ rapidly began to form between his forward-bent horns_._ Unohana's eyes widened; Kenpachi just grinned. The two Captains leapt out of the way in time for the beam of energy to miss them, spitting effortlessly through building after building as it angled slightly up and away.

"**So… You wanna fight me now?**" Shiro crowed as the smoke cleared.

"Oh, _hell_ yeah!" Kenpachi crowed right on back as he leaped forward, face split nearly in half by his grin.

As Kenpachi's sword came crashing down with the force of an onrushing freight train, Shiro blocked the overpowered attack between his crossed forearms. The super Hollow's eyes narrowed behind his mask, as Kenpachi's seemingly dull blade begin to actually cut into his _Hierro_. He didn't know why he should be surprised by that; last time around, Kenpachi had been able to cut completely through Nnoitra's _Hierro_, just by holding both hands on his sword – and for all of _that_ sadistic asshole's blatant faults, he had also been more than justified in boasting the strongest _Hierro_ out of all the Arrancar for himself.

Not being an Arrancar himself, Shiro had no true idea where his own _Hierro_ rated, in relation to that… but he also had no intention of using Zaraki's stupidly powerful strength as a benchmark, either! With a grunt and a hard shove, Shiro broke the stalemate, practically reflecting the aborted strike, up and back where it had come from; his own weight pressed into the attack, Kenpachi was left horribly unbalanced as a result. An opening that Shiro took immediate advantage of, to slam a kick straight into the underside of Kenpachi's chin, snapping the eye-patched berserker's head back with a loud and sharp jingle of bells. Kenpachi was rocked, sent flying back where he crashed into the side of yet another building.

Shiro did not stop to watch even that much happen, instead jumping away backwards as the ground beneath him violently exploded into debris. He looked up at the attack's source, where Unohana was kneeling atop a released Minazuki, slight steam rising from the palm of her outstretched right hand. Minazuki itself hovered probably a dozen meters off the ground, ready to pull away on an instant's notice should the faux Vasto Lorde make to attack its mistress.

Not good. Unohana off to one side, ready to restrict his movements with whatever Kidō she wanted to use, meant Kenpachi could just wade right into close combat with impunity; whichever captain Shiro tried to fight, would leave him wide open for the other to exploit.

Brilliant strategy, providing each other cover like that, but obviously not so good for Shiro himself. And speaking of Eleventh Division's Captain…

Shiro jumped back again as the ground in front of him shattered, courtesy of the blade being held by Zaraki. Indeed, being blown into the side of a building hadn't dampened Kenpachi's spirits at all; if anything, that bloodthirsty sneer was even wider now as the scarred berserker kept his eyes fixed on the faux Vasto Lorde's mask.

"_Hadō Number Fifty-Seven: Ketsu'u!_"

"Shit!" Shiro didn't have to look to know the oncoming Kidō was a nasty one, not with a name like that..He immediately jumped back, away from Kenpachi, as pillars of red light struck the ground where he had been standing. A hop to one side, and that patch of asphalt ceased to exist as well.

Shiro looked up to find an array of vermillion spheres of condensed spiritual pressure floating in the space above him. The faux Vasto Lorde clenched his jaw behind his mask; too many of them to just take out, and all of them capable of firing off painful beams of light. Damn her, Unohana wasn't taking any chances, here!

A blink, and Shiro's musings ground to a complete halt as he blocked an attack from Kenpachi with an arm, followed by dodging out from under another rain of red light, and jumping into the air. As the apex of his leap, Shiro channeled _reiatsu_ to the soles of his feet, literally standing atop his own power to hover in midair.

That was the weakness of Unohana's choice of attack – as its name suggested, the beams could only fire more or less downward, like rain – get out from under it, and the attack could no longer reach him, Thus freed from Unohana's assault, Shiro charged _reiatsu_ into his fingertips.

Kenpachi immediately took the bait, leaping up after him, hoping to catch the would-be Vasto Lorde before it could finish charging its _Cero_.

Except that this wasn't _Cero._ It was _Bala_. Not as strong, perhaps, but far faster. Shiro's single, percussive blast smashed into the unsuspecting the Captain square-on; by Kenpachi's body language and expression as he was blasted back, he was as increduluous as if he had just smacked into an unbreakable and invisible wall. Freed of the inevitable counterattack, now Shiro turned his horns on the remaining Captain, a _Cero_ now actually charging between them.

Except that Retsu was already prepared for such, the air around her shimmering with the energy of her erected shield. Shiro's sneering grin widened behind his mask; she had absolutely no idea what was about to happen, did she?

Fractions of a second before the attack fired, to Unohana's shock, the ball of hellish energy suddenly shrank down, compressing into nearly a third of the size. Slower than a regular _Cero_ but far more powerful, it tore through the air with a shriek as it bored down on the Fourth Division Captain.

Unohana's own eyes were wide with the horrified realization; panicked, she dumped as much reiryoku as she possible could into the shield, desperately hoping to stop this super-thin Cero from spitting her shield – and her – like a bug on a pin.

Only to be caught flat-footed as, roughly halfway to her, the beam suddenly exploded outward again – rather than a spear to pierce her shield as she had expected, instead it was a hammer blow, slamming into the shield with all the force of an onrushing freight train. Only because of that emergency reinforcement before, did the shield manage to hold at all against the blast; reeling from the sudden reversal, Retsu barely had enough time to escape on _Minazuki_ before it shattered like fine glass.

And with it, her concentration – now bereft of power, all of the Kidō she was controlling unraveled and came apart. Much to Shiro's relief; having to dodge attacks from three different directions was not his idea of fun.

Not only that, but now he had some breathing room, too. Kenpachi was mostly recovered, but still looked a little dizzy from being knocked ass over hindquarters, and Unohana was keeping her distance even more than before now –the close call had apparently rattled her even more than Shiro had intended. Which left Shiro free to try and work out some kind of plan.

(Back in the far back of their joint soul, Ichigo groaned; if the white maggot was actually being forced to have to come up with a battle strategy, then everything had just gone to Hell, anyway.)

The proverbial light bulb went on over the Hollow's head. '_I've got an idea!_' he crowed to his king.

The figurative eyeroll Ichigo gave at that was as obvious as his sarcastic tone. '_Do tell._'

Shirosaki's grin only deepened; the dumbass wouldn't ever see _this_ coming. '_How good are you with Kidō?_'

Ichigo blinked once, before the meaning crashed into him at he same time as his gut dropped down through the bottom, '_Oh, hell no! I'm not gonna be a part of this!_' It hardly took a genius to figure out where the white maggot was going with this. And like _hell_ was he going to be any kind of willing participant in it!

Below, the Fourth and Eleventh captains were watching him closely… though each for their own reasons.

"Ohhh, _man_, what a fight!" Kenpachi crowed, grin threatening to split his face in half. "'S been _way_ too long since I had a rush like this!"

His hand shot straight up to his face, grabbing at the strap to his power-draining eyepatch. He couldn't take it anymore; this was the real thing, a fight he could actually go all-out on! And this freak Hollow was actually giving it to him! With one swift motion, the eyepatch was ripped away, and the air exploded around him in spiritual power.

Startled, though not actually surprised, Unohana backed away a step. Shiro, likewise, wasn't too put off by this, either – if anything, he'd expected the one-eyed wonder to take the damn thing off, _ages_ ago! The only thing this was going to change at all, was that now he was going to have to pay more attention to the guy.

As this happened, Unohana hatched a plan. She wasn't sure if it would work, but there was a possibility. The problem: she needed time, a commodity that she was sure the Vasto Lorde wouldn't allow them to have. But they needed to try.

"Kenpachi!" Amidst the explosion of power, Kenpachi turned to his partner. "I have an idea, but you need to give me a couple of minutes! Distract him!"

He grinned. "Got it!" With that, he launched like a rocket towards the stationary Hollow with the full intent of slaughtering it.

Shiro cut his conversation with Ichigo as he jumped out of the way of Kenpachi's swipe. As he came down, Shiro readied a punch, shattering the roof but missing Kenpachi. Before the Captain could land on another building, Shiro came at him spinning like a tornado. As he slowed, his talon-tipped feet smashed Kenpachi into the side of a building.

_'Looks like things are getting fun,_' Ichigo offhandedly said as he watched the action through Shiro's eyes.

_'Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!_' Shiro shouted as he landed lithely on a windowsill.

Kenpachi pulled himself out of the indent while shaking his head. Upon sight of Shiro, his grin returned in full as he jumped to him. The pseudo Vasto Lorde jumped out of the way as Kenpachi sliced at the building, making the top of it slide down from one massive cut. Seeing the large chunk of the building come down (all the while Ichigo thanked whatever god was up there watching him that there wasn't anybody inside), Shiro pulled his hands up and caught the mass of masonry. Just as Kenpachi hit the ground running, his sword poised, Shiro threw the building piece at him and watched as the loose cannon split it in half.

As he finished his cut, the Captain watched with wide eyes as Shiro used a _Sonido_ to get close and personal. Before he could even react, Shiro grabbed him by the throat and pulled back his free arm. In one second, the white Hollow charged up his fist with Spiritual Pressure and sent it into Kenpachi's face, almost breaking his neck and sending him through another building.

When no movement appeared out of the debris, Shiro scratched his head. That was a little too easy…

Almost as if reading his thoughts, the ground next to him cracked before exploding upward. Shiro turned in time to see Kenpachi leap out amongst the flying concrete –the psycho was really taking to tunneling today – all the while laughing maniacally and holding his sword with both hands over his head for a downward slash.

'Shit!' Shiro mentally shouted in surprise.

With what little time he could spare, he crossed his arms, channeling every ounce of Spiritual Pressure he could muster into his arms' _Hierro_. Kenpachi's sword struck with what could only be described as the force of an asteroid hitting the earth, cutting through the Hollow armor and Shiro's arms. The ground below them caved from the force of the hit, sending them into the sewers below.

Kenpachi pulled himself up and watched as the enemy Hollow leapt back up. Much to his dismay, his target's arms had been cut off.

"That sucks," Kenpachi muttered, disheartened by the seeming end of this fight. "I was enjoying this, too."

Shiro just looked at him. "What makes you think this is over?" he shot back in his raspy voice.

Both of Kenpachi's eyebrows rose past his hairline as he watched a white substance begin to bubble out where Shiro's arms were formerly held. White mouths formed out of the clay/water-like mass, hungrily shrieking, drooling, and biting. In less than several seconds, the things expanded outwards, filling the sewer and heading towards Kenpachi with their mouths wide open.

Kenpachi grimaced. He only had enough time to place his other hand on his zanpakutō before everything went to Hell.

Retsu stood on _Minazuki_ as the manta-ray circled the battlefield. She was almost done. The Fourth Division Captain was finishing up three incantations at one time, all the while keeping a close eye on the battlefield below.

Her plan involved several Kidō, but the preparation for such advance spells – all three being higher than eighty – at the same time required concentration that others, possibly even Yamamoto-Genryūsai, would be hard pressed to match. There was a reason why she was considered a Kidō master few could match.

At the same time, though, she wouldn't openly admit being concerned. Zaraki and the Vasto Lorde had disappeared just mere seconds ago, and she could feel their Spiritual Pressure clashing like a pair of demons. There also was no guarantee this was going to work, but at the same time the power she was now on the verge of packing could quite possible incinerate their enemy.

Just as she finished, a line of explosions blew the entire street upward and into nothing more than a bunch of rubble. Out of the smoke, Kenpachi jumped onto the nearest building, looking more like a torn piece of meat. Unohana noted that both his hands had a grip on his blade, signifying how much the fight escalated.

The smoke parted as Shirosaki flew at Kenpachi faster than the speed of sound. On reflex alone, the Captain pulled his sword up and blocked the claws that threatened to carve him asunder, stopping the Hollow dead. Even as he stopped the attack, the ground beneath him quivered and cracked under the force of the blow. As Shiro's right hand held tightly to Kenpachi's blade his left pulled back and charged a _Gran Rey Cero_.

"_Bakudō Number Eighty-Eight: Shin'enkan!_"

Shirosaki muttered a curse as he jumped backwards to get away, turning his massive _Cero _onto Retsu. He had completely forgotten about her!

It was for naught. Four transparent walls sprung around him and just as he jumped up to escape and fire his attack, the box sealed itself. Another box formed within the larger one, and then another one. Shiro suddenly found himself becoming more and more claustrophobic as the space rapidly continued to decrease. Finally, he was contained within a cube within a cube (about forty to sixty cubes he guessed) so small it looked as if he was doing yoga to fit.

Ichigo had once been subject to this particular Kidō. Rukia performed it on him once in the future. Actually, Renji had been the root of the problem; Rukia just took her anger out on him.

Now that Shiro thought of it, how come Ichigo became Rukia's personal chew toy every time she got angry?

From what Shiro could remember, the Kidō creates an impenetrable cube that could withstand destructive spells up to the nineties. The trick to it was to create hundreds of layers, thus the ever shrinking interior. It was actually an incredibly slow Kidō to perform and was also extremely fragile in its early stages, but a skilled user could layer it in less than a couple of seconds. That's why he found himself giving props to Unohana.

Inside their collective mind, Ichigo was rubbing his chin. 'How come she didn't use a higher binding spell? With enough time and power we'd be able to get out of this one.'

Shiro turned his sight onto Unohana and received the answer.

'Ah shit!/That's not good!' they simultaneously shouted in their mind.

Unohana needed a spell to hold them but still weak enough that two level ninety spells could pierce it.

Now that she restricted the Vasto Lorde's movement, Retsu moved on. "_Bakudō Number Ninety-Three: Shijin no Kago!_"

A ring of pure Spiritual Pressure formed around Ichigo's layered prison. Four different colored spheres appeared on the ring and began to glow. Once they were fully charged, four beams of light shot through the middle of the prison, burning holes through the faux Vasto Lorde.

'We need to get out of here!' Shiro thought past the pain.

'_Do something! Anything! Gran Rey Cero! That should bust us out of here!_' Ichigo shouted. '_Hurry! Before she fires that damn Kidō!_'

Seeing her opponent writhing in pain, Unohana was feeling good. Her plan was working without any hiccups, but she wouldn't believe they won until she would see the Hollow's dead body.

She clapped her hands together, ready to finish everything with her last Kido. "_Hadō Number Ninety-Eight: Kokubetsu no Kōkyōka! First Movement!_"

Manically, Shiro dumped all the reiatsu he could muster between his horns in what little space he had. If he didn't hurry, Ichigo and he would feel this in the morning.

Swords as large as trailer trucks suddenly faded into existence and surrounded him. Unohana glared and the blades charged into the binding Kidō, slicing through the walls like tissue paper as they stabbed into the bound Hollow.

Shiro clenched his teeth against the pain, but would not stop the flow of power gathering into the space between his horns. Compared to some of the crap Aizen had thrown at him, this crap may as well be a flesh wound!

"_Second Movement!_" Retsu finally shouted.

'_HURRY, DAMMIT!_' Ichigo frantically shouted – he didn't want show up back home looking like Swiss cheese; he might get asked a couple of questions.

"**SCREW THIS!**" Shiro shouted in frustration.

Just as Unohana felt like she was on the victory lap, the Reiatsu taking shape to finish the job, the prison exploded, dispersing the attacks containing and harming the Vasto Lorde. As the smoke cleared, revealing its lithe form standing on air, it formed a _Cero_ between its horns. Retsu blanched upon feeling how much power in that single attack. The earth shook as the attack was released; the tops of buildings were disintegrated and the clouds above were parted.

Shiro stood in the air above the carnage, sensing if he killed anything. He sighed in relief. All that was killed were a pair of seagulls. If he murdered anybody, Ichigo would've panicked and told him playtime was over. Looking below, he watched Kenpachi pulled himself out of the carnage and prop himself against a rock; _Minazuki_ shook off the debris, protecting its mistress by shielding her.

Retsu frowned. "I… underestimated him. He was holding back the entire time."

Kenpachi spat out a wad of blood.

"Not bad." His grin wasn't as wide as normal. "The sucker almost killed us both in one attack."

"How are we supposed to defeat him?" the Fourth Division Captain wondered in despair.

If two captains weren't enough, how many would Soul Society need to eliminate this single Hollow?

Kenpachi and Retsu snapped their view to the front of them as Shiro appeared before them in a blur of movement. He crossed his arms, shaking his head in disappointment.

"**The Kidō was a good try, but still not good enough,**" Shiro analyzed lazily. If it wasn't for the Hollow mask, Unohana would have guessed Shiro was smirking. "**Wanna see something trippy**?"

The Hollow's eyes changed from gold to brown behind its mask, but neither Kenpachi or Unohana were aware of it.

Shiro – now Ichigo – stuck out his hand, making Retsu and Kenpachi jump backwards. Reiatsu swirled just above the Hollow's palm, not unlike a Shinigami.

"_**Oh, starless moonlit sky!**__**Crown of wind, dancing rain, song of despair… Planets whisper pyres of rage, the sun laughs at their misery!**_" Retsu's mouth dropped open, shocked and horrified at the realization of what was happening; even Zaraki was stunned, both eyebrows flying into his hairline in his surprise. "_**Hadō Number Seventeen: Kyūshōboku!**_"

Compared to other Kidō spells, it was relatively simple. It depended largely on a Shinigami's reserves to create an effect not unlike a shotgun, peppering a small area with small but numerous energy spheres. The average number that a Shinigami could produce typically varied between twenty and thirty spheres.

Ichigo, however, was _not_ your average Shinigami – his version of this attack was more akin to carpet bombing – and for very good reason.

Unohana had seen this attack done countless times before… but not like this, nothing like this. The Vasto Lorde's attack involved not thirty spheres, but_ hundreds._ They hung behind his back like a swarm of fireflies, ready to disappear like thousands of shooting stars.

"Eat this," Ichigo merely said, pointing a finger at them.

Zaraki and Unohana only had a second for their eyes to widen before the entire area exploded in a massive cloud of debris. Silence once more reigned supreme after the attack; a cloud of smoke drifted into the sky but was dissipated as the wind took up a small breeze.

After several minutes, a pile of debris bulged before sliding away, revealing the battered form of _Minazuki_ covering the forms of Retsu and Kenpachi. The two crawled out of the hole they were in, standing once more to take in the destruction.

Looking about, Retsu sighed in relief. The damage could've been worse; only the rooftops took any major damage. She didn't know whether any humans took damage or not, but if they did, it was only minor.

Retsu couldn't say the same about herself and Kenpachi. Although she was only mildly scuffed up, mainly due to the last attack, she had come out of the battle fairly unscathed thanks to _Minazuki._ The manta had taken a large brunt of the damage throughout the battle. Kenpachi wasn't fairing as well as her; he looked like a fresh steak from the butcher house.

She muttered a 'thank-you' to her zanpakutō as she sheathed it.

"SON-OF-A-BITCH!" Kenpachi shouted, garnering his partner's attention. "The bastard got away!"

He waved his broken sword in aggravation –it had gotten smashed when the Kidō came crashing down. The bells on his head jingled as he looked left and right, hoping to find the Vasto Lorde and rip it apart.

Indeed, Shirosaki made his disappearance. The only sign the Vasto Lorde was formerly present was the massive destruction in the surrounding area.

Unohana shook her head as she came up next to him. "It's more like he let us live."

Kenpachi scoffed. "What a coward!" He turned to Unohana. "Did you say something?"

The Captain of the Fourth Division palmed her face. Why did Yamamoto-Genryusai have to send _him_ to Earth with her? Didn't he know just how much they resented each other? But the knowledge of their inevitable return back to Soul Society was now imminent was a blessing beyond any blessing. Everyone had to know what occurred and what they were up against.

"I'm going to send a Hell butterfly and order they open a gate." Her complexion quickly changed to serious. "Yamamoto-Genryusai needs to know about what just happened."

Kenpachi was offended. "What? We're not going after him?"

Retsu closed her eyes, reminding herself that Kenpachi was considered loose cannon for a reason.

"We need help," she answered, making Kenpachi shut his mouth. "We're heading back, and asking for aid."

Kenpachi nodded, if reluctantly. It wasn't what he wanted, but there would be eventually a round two.

_'Ah, the joys of mass destruction_,' Shiro said as he sighed in contentment.

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he walked home, hands in his pockets.

The only outward sign that he was involved in a large scale battle against a pair of captain-level Shinigami was the bruise on his cheek, a memento from Unohana's attack. It could've gone better in his opinion, but then again he should've expected such levels of destruction; Kenpachi and Shiro weren't exactly known for subtly.

_'Hey, I resent that!_' the maggot yelled in his head.

_'Am I wrong_?' Ichigo mentally deadpanned.

Shiro mock thought about it before shrugging. _'Nah, you're right_.'

Once more, Ichigo rolled his eyes_. 'I'm curious to know what Rukia is going to say about this. She's probably freaking out right about now.'_

Opening the door, he ducked under his father's jump kick. The older man crashed against the garbage cans as Ichigo closed the door and locked it –he made a mental note to lock all of the doors and the windows before his father came to. Just as he came to his door, he stopped short of the handle.

_'What now?_' Shiro whined.

_'I feel like I'm forgetting something_,' Ichigo thought, but then shrugged his shoulders. _'Oh well; it's probably not that important.'_

Opening the door, he then realized what he forgot, but it was too late. There, standing in the doorway, as if waiting for him like a patient predator, was Rukia, wide-eyed and murderous like a nutcase from a horror movie. It didn't help that she was holding the bat he knocked her out with to get the glove.

It didn't take a genius to know where this was going.

He then closed the door, walked down the hallway, and whistled like nothing happened.

Grimmjow was nervous. Neliel was just as nervous. The _Caja Negacion_ was almost out of time, and the moment it went down they'd immediately become devoured like an afternoon snack. Although Grimmjow was fully healed, Neliel was still in bad shape. If they chose to fight back until the bitter end, it'd be nothing more than a pathetic display; if they chose to run, the snake would catch them and eat them anyways.

Currently, said snake was coiled up, waiting patiently for the barrier to come down –after having circled the barrier like a shark for an hour and a half, it finally got bored and decided to wait it out, as if knowing it would eventually come down. Nonetheless, its unblinking gaze remained fixed on its prey as it flicked its tongue in and out of its mouth.

"If only I was a Vasto Lorde…" Grimmjow muttered once more.

Even if it was muttered for the thousandth time in those past two hours (or at least that's what it felt like), Neliel wasn't aggravated by it. Truth be told, if Grimmjow was a Vasto Lorde, they might at least have a chance to escape; he was, after all, the fastest Hollow she ever met. His speed would only increase with his strength.

"Unfortunately, that won't happen," Neliel said, sounding strangely hopeless. "You'd need a huge amount of energy to reach that level."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes as he lazily flicked his tail. "Whatever… I'd like to enjoy my last moments in peace before this fucker eats us. So, don't ruin my daydreaming."

Neliel looked down at _Gamuza_, a part of her still not wanting to go out like this. There _had_ to be some way out of this mess, but how? She looked towards Grimmjow, but her frown only deepened. How do you get a Vasto Lorde without having an Adjucha eat a horrendous amount of Hollows? She didn't know. It was like asking how to boil water without a source of heat.

She stared at his mask. It was unharmed, which was a good thing. The mask was their source of power; if it were to be damaged, then they'd never advance in strength. Even when a hollow became an Arrancar, the mask never truly disappeared – it simply… transformed. Instead, it would become a zanpakutō…

Suddenly, inspiration struck her like an arrow through the head. They might have a chance!

"Grimmjow," she said, hope returning to her. "I… have an idea."

His golden eyes shifted towards her, the only sign he was listening intently.

"If it works," she continued, knowing she had his attention, "then you might even become a Vasto Lorde, but that's only if you're close enough to becoming one. If you're too far away from evolving, then there's the chance I'll end up killing you instead. Even then, this is still theoretical thinking."

Now he was listening intently. "I'm listening. Anything is better than becoming someone else's meal."

Neliel frowned. "It requires that I stab your mask with my zanpakutō. After that, I'll need to channel as much energy as I can into you so that you may become stronger. Although we might not be able to defeat this thing, we might be able to get away from it. But as I said, I'm not sure if this will succeed."

Grimmjow pulled himself up. "Do it," he simply ordered.

At that moment, the _Caja Negacion_ came down, earning a cuss word from Grimmjow and a frightened look from Neliel. Seeing that its prey was no longer protected, the snake-like Adjucha reared up, its hood of horns opening and its jaw dislocating in preparation to devour them.

"Now!" he yelled jumping at her.

As if it was choreographed, the snake Menos lunged as Neliel brought up her sword for the diving Grimmjow. Just as the tip pierced Grimmjow's mask, a brief flash lit up the surrounding area, but disappeared instantly. In its place was the serpent biting into the white sand of the floor.

Spitting out the remnants of its failed attempt at a meal, the snake turned towards a new, massive source of Spiritual Pressure, finding a sight that would shake a lesser Hollow to the core. A distance away, standing on two feet was Grimmjow, evolved to the highest form a Hollow could obtain.

An armor-like jumpsuit as white as the sands that surrounded them covered his body with a pair of elbow blades that glinted ominously in what moonlight reached them in the cave. Grimmjow's mask turned into the skull of a jaguar with a pair of horns jutting back as if to increase his speed.

Grimmjow bent down and picked up the bundle that was Neliel, flinging her over his shoulder. "It's been fun, but I've got things to do."

And then he disappeared from sight.

The enemy Adjucha followed the trail of spiritual energy and found the new Vasto Lorde running up the side of the cave. Not wanting a meal to escape, it slithered to the nearest pillar and spiraled up it with speeds that rivaled Grimmjow. Seeing the Adjucha give chase, Grimmjow jumped off the wall with a _Sonido_, pushed off a pillar with another burst of speed and headed straight for an opening to the outside. But the snake Adjucha jumped as well, blocking the path with a widened mouth, intending to intercept the Hollow.

Grimmjow, seeing the oncoming maw, threw the unconscious form of Neliel over the snake and spun sideways, delivering a kick to the top of the mask and sending the snake rocketing towards the ground with such force that several pillars were destroyed from the force of impact, destroying the support to the ceiling of the cave. Catching Neliel, he landed on the edge of the opening, using one last _Sonido_ to escape the collapsing cave.

The new Vasto Lorde stopped a distance away from the destruction, watching as a cloud of white sand was blown upward.

"I'm glad that's done," Grimmjow muttered.

It was then he noticed the weight on his shoulder was lighter than a couple minutes ago. Confused, he pulled Neliel off his shoulder, finding an unconscious little girl instead.

Grimmjow's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the tiny girl, recognizing every trait of Neliel… only miniaturized. Her mask, once foreboding and intimidating, was now childish and cartoon-like with a crack that didn't exist before.

Thinking of what could've caused this, it didn't take long to realize that the issue stemmed from using her zanpakutō on his mask. To push Grimmjow to the level of a Vasto Lorde, it took an incredible amount of Spiritual Pressure. This could be a side-effect. If that was the case, it would only last until she regained her powers, but there was no telling how long that would be.

"What a day this is turning out to be," muttered Grimmjow, staring upwards at the moon as he walked to meet his minions, the miniaturized Neliel in hand.

But, before he left, he made sure to give the giant hole in the ground the middle finger.

In the hole below, white sand parted, slowly revealing the snake Adjucha as it reared up. It flicked its tongue, noting that its prey was a fair distance away, farther than it would allow itself to pursue. On top of that, one of them was strong, like the Hollows that attempted to defend the cave but failed. It was simply too troublesome for a good meal.

But that abyssal feeling continued to haunt it. Was there a way to fill that emptiness? Could it make it disappear.

"It hurts…" moaned the snake. "The hunger… it won't go away."

It then slithered along the ground, heading towards its nearest point of Spiritual Pressure.


	7. Lamentations in the Rain

_**Chapter 7- Lamentations in the Rain**_

Ichigo stared up at his ceiling, just like he had been doing all night. Some of the sadder emotions that he had been suppressing ever since he came back to the past started to bubble once more, mainly because tomorrow was 'the day'.

Tomorrow wasn't a good day for the strawberry, simply because he mourned for his family. During the future, this was the day that he not only mourned for his mother, but also for his father and his sisters. They hadn't died on the same day as his mother, but it was the only time he allowed himself to cry for them.

But this was the past and he had a chance to make sure that this day never became so heartbreaking. He would find a way to make his sisters strong so that they may stand a chance, and that was a promise to his self and them.

With a sigh, he rolled onto his back, closed his eyes, and pulled his blankets tighter over himself. He might as well try to get some sleep with what little time he had left before he had to go to school for the day.

Unfortunately for him, it was at that time that a stuffed animal jumped onto his stomach and gave him his wake up call.

"Wake up, Ichigo! If you don't I'll…! Oh, wait… you're awake already," Kon tried to yell.

Before the perverted lion could react, Ichigo sent an angry punch to the modified soul; launching him across the room and making him slam into the closest door.

The strawberry mumbled under his breath how stuffed animals shouldn't even be moving in the first place, and how the perverted little thing needed to be kept on a leash.

He groaned as he realized that it wasn't going to be possible to get any sleep.

He prevented the 'Kon Incident' altogether, but he would admit to having a soft spot for the Mod Soul, and decided to keep him around. Kon still had his uses at this point in the past; at the current moment, there was no way he could get out of his body without Rukia or Kon. And he was pretty sure that the former of the two would hate him for a long time if he decided just to keep Kon in pill form for the rest of his unnatural existence.

Still, the last thing he wanted was the little bastard to ruin his hard earned reputation, or to embarrass him in front of Orihime. If the latter of two happened, he didn't have any qualms in making the stuffed animal's life hell. His memories recalled that Kon didn't like to be duck-taped to the back of the toilet.

"Stop with the racket!" Rukia yelled as she stepped out of Ichigo's closet, already dressed for school. "It's already hard enough to get changed in a closet!"

She looked down as she heard the signature laugh of a pervert getting what he wanted. And there her foot was, standing right on Kon, who was looking right up her skirt in the best view the stuffed animal could ever ask for.

"Nice! What's the occasion?" was all Kon said while giving her as best a thumbs up as his stuffed hand could offer.

Rukia then proceeded to repeatedly smash the little pervert with the bottom of her shoe, all the while the stuffed animal begged for mercy and his life.

"Not the cotton!" Kon yelled. "NOT THE COTTON!"

Ichigo couldn't help but sigh at their antics.

While Rukia was dealing higher justice to the pervert, Ichigo walked to the restroom and quickly went over his morning routine. When he got back, his dark-haired guest was still dealing punishment. By then, Kon was now a mess; his stuffing was leaking everywhere, and Ichigo would have sworn that one of his eyes was loose.

"I'm out of here," he told them.

The tiny girl gave Kon one last kick and turned to Ichigo. "Alright, I'll head out early."

"Sure," he said, closing the door as he went downstairs.

Ichigo walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where he could hear Yuzu cooking breakfast. Sure enough, she was there in her apron working on some bacon and eggs. Karin sat at the table reading something, but then looked up when she saw her older brother.

She was about to say something, but instead stopped herself, seeing the look that was in Ichigo's eyes as he switched back and forth between Yuzu and her. There was an emotion in them that she couldn't put her fingers on… as if at any moment they were going to disappear before his eyes.

"Hey, Ichi-nii," Karin asked him, "you okay?"

He stared at her for a second. "Yeah, just thinking about things."

"Does it have something to do with mom?" Yuzu said, turning her attention away from the eggs for a second.

"Partially," he answered with a shrug. "There are some of things that I've had to think about, that's all."

Even as he sat down at the table Karin and Yuzu kept a worried eye on him. He was acting different than he usually did on the eve of their mother's death date; normally he was trying to cover up his sadness, but today he didn't even bother, and that wasn't mentioning the distant look he was giving them.

They ate their breakfast quietly, not even bothering to speak once. And it was starting to aggravate Karin, badly.

She took a deep breath to break the silence. "So, seen any new ghosts lately, Ichi-nii?"

"No," he answered as he took a bit of eggs, earning a low growl from his sister.

"Well, forgive me for trying to start a conversation," she said in a sour tone before getting back to her own food.

Ichigo would have loved to tell her about his status as a Shinigami. He even thought it would be cool to tell his sisters about his two Bankai, but alas, they weren't…

Karin and Yuzu watched as their brother's face lit up as if he suddenly had an epiphany. They looked at each other, but the twin sisters shrugged their shoulders and turned their attention back to Ichigo.

"What are you thinking?" Yuzu asked.

"Something," was all he said, wearing the face of a genius that was planning something as he stood up and cleared his plate- not a smile, but the face of a man that was trying to concentrate.

"I wonder what's up with him," Karin whispered to her twin, earning a nod from Yuzu.

The next second, he ran out of the house with his backpack. When he had gotten far enough from his home, he allowed his mind to piece together the jigsaw pieces of a plan that would make his sisters stronger, and maybe even give them the power to even take on Kaname or Gin.

It was a stupid plan, but he learned from his experience as a general of how even the most dumb-ass plan on the planet could come together more beautifully than anything –he'd have to thank Rukia, the queen of stupid-but-genius-plans, since they worked for her… at least, most of the time. After all, if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be a Shinigami in the first place.

The plan was simple; the execution, not so easy: he was going to turn his little sisters into Shinigami.

But how to pull off such a grandiose plan? What he needed was a battle that his sisters would get caught up in, and then he would fake being weak so that the Hollow could deal a nasty strike. Next he would have his sisters stab themselves with his zanpakuto, and voila! Instant Shinigami.

That was when he hit another snag: where was he going to find a battle where he could get his sisters dragged into it?

'_You dumb-ass!_' Shirosaki interrupted, '_what day is tomorrow?_'

Ichigo stopped to think about it. '_The day my mother died at the hands of Grand Fisher?_'

Shiro stayed silent, but Ichigo could make out a mental image of his Hollow crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently. It was then that he mentally slapped himself, earning a smirk of satisfaction from his anti-thesis.

'_Of course!_' he shouted in his mind, '_it's the battle with Grand Fisher! But is that smart? He was one of the harder Hollows I fought back then._'

'_If problems arise,_' Shiro laid out, '_use one of your damn Shikai, you dumb-ass._'

Thinking about it, Shiro's plan made sense. Grand Fisher was a dangerous opponent, and should his sisters not be able to take him out, he would have no choice but to jump in. If that was the case, he would be forced to allow a tiny fraction of his power to be fully unleashed.

And he had to admit, pretending to be desperate enough that he'd activate one his Shikai was an extremely good excuse to get away with it without anyone asking questions, especially Rukia who was more than likely going to be watching.

It seemed as if Shiro wasn't as dumb as he made himself out to be sometimes.

'_I heard that,_' Ichigo's contrast growled.

But still, he couldn't help it as another sad frown. It was still a day that he remembered the fallen- the past, and the future included.

-0-

"Stupid ghost," Tatsuki muttered as she saw a pair of them making out in the air above her. Orihime saw them as she passed by, nibbling on a donut while shaking her head.

Ever since the incident at her apartment, Orihime knew that Tatsuki could now see ghosts for some strange reason. She had a gut feeling that it had something to do with Ichigo, but she wasn't able to believe it for sure.

It upset her that it was only her that remembered the night Sora attacked, but that couldn't be helped. Ichigo and Rukia had their reasons for why they made people forget what had happened during their fights with the distorted souls.

"You also see them, too, right?" Tatsuki questioned, snapping Orihime back to the real world.

To answer her best friend, she bobbed her head up and down rapidly while holding the donut in her mouth, earning a sigh of relief from her best friend.

"Good," she said, crossing her arms in aggravation, "I don't want to be the only one here who's going nuts. I wonder how Ichigo could put with seeing dead people all the time."

Inoue might have said that he protected them with two huge swords, and purified the ghosts that went sour and became monsters, but she would be giving away his secret and she didn't want to do that. But then again, Tatsuki might think it was her imagination running rampant again more.

Orihime thought back to her own personal training. She hadn't touched her sword since she'd been at Ichigo's house, mainly because she was aware of the fact that she herself was a klutz when it came to sharp objects of any kind. But she had taken to trying a couple smaller combinations of her Shun Shun Rikka- anything over two fairies was taxing to perform.

Her newest favorite combination created a handheld buckler. It was about the size of a trashcan lid, and it could even become larger, but it was lighter than a feather and should anything have the intention to harm her, it worked just as well as her stationary shield. She was more out to use it than her sword combination, and it was easier to use. The only major flaw with it was that it only protected her, not anyone unless she jumped in the way of the incoming attack.

Orihime was jarred out her thoughts as she suddenly ran into a metal light pole, losing her half finished donut in the process.

Next to her, Tatsuki stopped and sighed. "I think you dented the pole."

Inoue pouted as she rubbed her forehead. Looking at the pole, she could see that Tatsuki was right; there was a dent where her head had made contact.

"That hurt…" she whimpered.

"Well, I would think so," Tatsuki told Orihime as she pulled her up. "I think you should stop daydreaming and pay attention to where you walk."

Inoue opened her mouth to say that she wasn't daydreaming, but was distracted by the sight of Ichigo across the street.

Tatsuki saw her friend space out and sighed, knowing that she did that a lot when she daydreamed. But when she saw Orihime's head moving to keep track of something, she followed her sight, also spying the orange head. Both of them could see that his eyes were distant and that he seemed to be thinking.

"Why does Kurosaki-kun look so tense?" Orihime asked.

Tatsuki stayed silent, but as she watched Ichigo, she found herself sighing again. "It took me a couple of years to find that out. Tomorrow must be that day. But that's strange; he normally tries to act like nothing is wrong."

Inoue turned to her best friend with pleading eyes, mentally begging to know what was wrong.

"I'll tell you later," was all she got, much to her chagrin. "Until then, let's head to school."

She wasn't satisfied with Tatsuki's answer. She wanted to know what was wrong with Ichigo so that she could possibly help him. At the same time, though, she knew how stubborn her best friend could be when it came to giving out information about others.

Orihime gave one last worried glance to the fading figure of Ichigo as he trotted down the sidewalk, all the while deciding that she wanted to know what was wrong from the citrus-head himself.

Quietly, she followed Tatsuki, thinking about her crush all the way to school.

-0-

Everyone sat at a table, eating and enjoying their lunches. The only exception to this was Orihime. The girl ignored her food in favor of watching Ichigo as he sat by himself, staring off into infinity as he usually did when his mind was a torrent of thoughts. His scowl also seemed a lot deeper than it normally looked.

Tatsuki caught her friend glancing at the orange-head with worry, and sighed. Ever since she had gained the ability see ghosts, Orihime seemed to have gotten closer to Ichigo, but she didn't understand why. The strawberry wasn't somebody that let random people befriend him; and before whatever happened, he and Inoue hadn't been that close. Chad was one of Ichigo's few really close friends, but that was it.

"He's okay, it's just something else," she whispered to Inoue with an aggravated frown, watching her take another peak at him.

"But what is it?" the strawberry-blond whispered back. "I don't like it when he looks so sad."

Tatsuki was caught off guard by the fact that Inoue now seemed concerned about Ichigo's well-being. How truly close were the two?

She sadly frowned as she whispered back to Orihime. "I'll tell you later."

It still didn't assure the curious girl.

Orihime turned back to Ichigo, watching his face with a frown and saddened eyes as he stared off into space, not even touching his food. A part of her wanted to continue prodding Tatsuki, but she knew she wasn't going to get anything out of her. Another half of her just wanted to go up to Ichigo and ask what was eating away at him.

Finally, Orihime allowed her curiosity to get the best of her.

Tatsuki watched as Orihime picked up her food and walked over to the spot Ichigo was sitting at. The dark-haired girl wanted to protest and tell her best friend that he just wanted to be left alone today, but instead, Orihime was greeted with a surprised look and then a kind smile.

Orihime sat down and after of watching Ichigo for a second, she finally spoke her concern: "You okay, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo sadly smiled. He loved her presence; every time she was near, the bad things in the world seemed to ebb away, and all of the sorrows seemed so distant. But at the same time, she was the greatest source of his mourning. His own hands were stained with her blood.

He let out a deep sigh as he returned his thoughts to the present. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Orihime gently prodded, slowly inching her hand to his own.

Before she could touch his hand, he pulled it away and ran his fingers through his hair, sighing again as he stared down at his uneaten food.

She sadly frowned, both at losing a chance to be able to hold his hand, and the sight of him being so distraught. Ichigo really did have a lot on his mind, and she was curious to know what was plaguing him. If there was a way she could help, it wouldn't take even a second for her to volunteer.

"Tomorrow is just not a very good day for me," he answered as he sat his hand back down on the table.

"If there's something…" Orihime tried to comfort, but was interrupted.

"I'm okay." He told her, setting his head against his hand. "Tomorrow is the day my mother died, and on this day, a lot of other things happened throughout my life."

"I'm sorry," she apologized, finding a sudden interest in her peanut butter and salami sandwich. "I didn't know."

Orihime could then feel his fingertips brush against hers, the sensation making her instinctively turn her sight back on his face. He wore a soft, sad smile that let her know that he was going to be fine, that he accepted things the way they were.

She nodded her head, knowing that he was going to be okay. After a couple minutes of an awkward silence, the two finally dug into their food.

-0-

That night, after his supposed 'family meeting', Ichigo found himself sitting on his window seal, staring out into the night. His scowl was sadder than normal, and his eyes were glazed over.

His mind was deep in thought, asking himself whether he was doing the right thing tomorrow. Karin and Yuzu were his little sisters, and the thought of putting them in harm's way in anyway was not something he enjoyed, but he didn't want them to die. At the same time, he felt like a chess player, maneuvering the pieces for an outcome that he wished for; it felt too much like manipulation for his taste.

"You don't sleep much," a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah, I know," he muttered as he turned around, greeting his eyes to Rukia who was sporting the pajamas she conveniently 'borrowed' from Yuzu's closet.

One of her eyebrows was raised, and her arms were crossed. She stared at him, expecting the citrus-head to explain what he was doing up, but when he didn't say anything, she sighed.

"So, why are you up?" she asked.

"I sort of became an insomniac a while back," he answered. "I get less than four hours of sleep a night."

It was the truth. Back in the future, he got little to no sleep. Due to a combination of worry about the war and the threat of another nightmare of his friends dying, Ichigo was afraid to sleep. Sometimes, he stayed up for a couple of days at a time without a wink of sleep, and when he finally went to bed, he slept maybe for less than seven hours.

Now, having come to the past and seeing his friends again, he was able to peacefully sleep more often. It was rare for him to sleep for more than five hours in the past, but now, he was sleeping for as much as six.

"You should think about taking some meds," Rukia suggested, though to Ichigo, it sounded more like an order.

"Thought about it," Ichigo told her as he turned his eyes on her petite form, wearing a tired smirk, "but I don't like to take meds."

At that moment, Rukia was able to catch a glimpse at his eyes. She was caught off guard by how sorrow-filled they were, and a maturity that was _way _beyond Ichigo's years. Very rarely did she actually catch his eyes, but every so often when she caught a glimpse into them, they always seemed so deep.

From what she had learned during her time with him, Rukia had come to discover that Ichigo was surprisingly wise and very mature for his age. Often times, she had to remind herself that he only looked fifteen, and that his mind was way beyond that.

She cocked her head to the side as she saw Ichigo turn his attention back on the empty, darkened streets below.

"Why do you do that?" she asked out of the blue.

"Do what?" he questioned back, not turning away from whatever he was gazing at.

"Stare off into space," the Kuchiki answered as she came up to the wall next to him, and then began leaning on it.

It took Ichigo a couple of seconds to find a good answer. "I guess it's just a habit."

Rukia shrugged her shoulders. "You're weird."

Ichigo chuckled upon hearing that. He was a weird person, but even his most annoying habits had their uses.

"So…" Rukia said, changing the topic to something less angsty, "your family meeting looked fun."

"Yeah," Ichigo noticed that he sighed again –he needed to stop doing that. "It was kind of fun. My dad can be a real idiot sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way."

They stayed in relative silence for the next couple minutes. Ichigo could feel Rukia staring at him. From his knowledge of the past and the future, he could tell that she was trying to understand him. He couldn't help but wish her luck in his mind; he knew her better than she was ever going to know him.

Rukia continued to stare at Ichigo, trying to decipher this puzzle before her. What could have happened to the strawberry that he would become this way? It was almost as if he had experienced a great tragedy in his life, one that almost shattered him. Something came close to breaking him, but what it was she hadn't a clue of any kind.

She couldn't help but be reminded of a presence of a captain of the Gotei Thirteen; one that seemed to have such a tragic past, and knew horrors that many would never be able to rise above. It was an instinctive feeling every time she was near him, and it drove her nuts.

"Hey," Ichigo spoke, earning her attention as Rukia turned to him. "Do you think that I'll be able to take the day off tomorrow?"

"What do you mean?" she questioned with another raised eyebrow.

"I mean, a day off from being a Shinigami," he corrected.

"Of course not!" Rukia yelled just loud enough to get her point across, but not so loud that she would wake up everyone in the house. "You can't just…"

"I'm sorry," Ichigo interrupted, "but tomorrow is the day that my mother was murdered."

"Oh… I…" Rukia turned away sadly. She didn't know that little fact about her substitute.

Ichigo's frown deepened. He said that last time too. It was the way he broke the ice about his mother the first time, and even now it seemed like the best way to do it. Rukia's reaction was still close to the same as well.

"I'm heading to bed," Ichigo told her, getting out of the windowsill, and then slipping in between the blankets on his bed.

Rukia just stood there numbly, processing what she just heard. Was that the reason he acted the way he did? It made sense; the death of someone that dear could greatly affect a person, especially someone as close as a mother. Either way, though, she'd been caught off guard by his revelation.

Unable to come up with a retort, Rukia moved to the closet.

-0-

Ichigo walked up the hill beside his two sisters, casting his eyes everywhere and half expecting Grand Fisher to appear out of thin air. He was antsy, and his plan to turn his sisters in Shinigami didn't help. Already he lost them once, but he'd be damned before that happened again.

Walking alongside their brother, Karin and Yuzu could sense his anxiousness. Usually, Ichigo was morose on this day, but today, he was awfully skittish, keeping his head on a swivel for what seemed like an invisible opponent. A couple of times a twig snapped, and he was quick to turn his eyes to that area.

If one is wondering what had happened to Isshin, he had acted like an idiot a couple minutes earlier, prompting his son to give him the hardest haymaker he had ever experienced, launching him towards the bottom of the hill. He had yet to get out of the crater he was in.

"You okay, Ichi-nii?" Karin asked. "You've been really quiet today."

He looked over at a thicket of trees, thinking that he had seen the shadow of somebody there, but thinking it was nothing more than a trick of light, he turned his attention back to Karin.

"I'm okay," Ichigo gave her a reassuring smile. "I just had a lot on my mind lately."

His twin sisters weren't reassured.

Yuzu heard the pitter-patter of somebody's shoes behind them, and turned to look, finding a girl that looked to be around Ichigo's age following them, except, she was much shorter than a middle school girl.

"Hey, who's that?" Yuzu asked, prompting Ichigo and Karin to look behind their backs.

Karin was first to speak her thoughts. "Maybe it's someone that's here to pay their respects." She was quick to turn her attention back onto the path, finding no more interest in the newcomer.

Ichigo sighed as he saw the girl that was following them, wearing a summer dress, a backpack (that was sure to be holding Kon), and a large hat, waving 'hello' and wearing a perky smile that was quickly getting on his nerves. It was none other than Kuchiki Rukia, and Ichigo was contemplating whether or not to run for it just to piss her off.

'_About time she got here,_' Ichigo thought to himself, inwardly smirking that things were happening like last time.

"Do you know her?" Yuzu questioned Ichigo, looking at him with an expectant face. "She seems familiar, but I can't remember from where."

Ichigo stared at the approaching Rukia for a second, making the said girl blink at his contemplative stare as she came up to the small group. He rubbed his chin for added effect, as if trying to delve as deeply as possible into his memories for recognition. After a second, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Nope, never seen her before in my entire life," he told them.

The strawberry turned heel, and began to speed walk the other way, making a tick mark appear on Rukia's head. When he got far enough, Ichigo began sprinting as fast and as hard as his human body could allow, only pissing off his friend even more.

"Get back here, you asshole!" shouted Rukia as she took off after him.

Yuzu and Karin shared a look, and then turned back to watch the retreating figures of their brother and some unknown girl that they barely recognized heading off into the woods.

"I got a thousand ryu in my pocket," Karin began, "that says that girl is either an ex, or his current girlfriend."

"I'll take that bet," Yuzu accepted.

-0-

Ichigo was just about to get away; all he needed was a couple more feet, but before he could such a thing, a large stick the size of a baseball bat came out of nowhere and hit him on the back of his head. It was natural that a projectile that size would make Ichigo eat dirt. He skidded into the ground for another couple of feet before momentum finally called it quits, allowing him to stop.

He looked up with a grunt and an angry scowl into the face of the victoriously smirking Rukia, her hands on her hips for added effect.

"You're an ass," she told him, tapping his forehead with her shoe.

"You didn't have to throw the stick at me," the redhead muttered as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head with a pained look.

Taking a second, Ichigo stood up and composed himself. He had done that for two reasons: one was to get Rukia into an area away from his sisters so that he could get Kon, and the other was to just piss her off.

"Alright," he said, "would you mind giving me Kon?"

"After that little stunt?" Rukia asked with a raised eyebrow. "I might mind."

At that moment, Rukia's backpack unzipped itself, and out came Kon in all of his glory.

"Did someone say my name?" the stuffed lion asked, looking about.

Ichigo violently snatched Kon out of the backpack, and then proceeded to shake the fake lion so brutally that he screamed with a high pitch, mixing a couple of colorful curses in for good measure aimed at the substitute Shinigami, his mother, and something involving a toaster. Finally, after a struggle of wills, Ichigo began choking Kon with the aim to pop his head off like a cork. The pill popped out and the strawberry stuffed it into his pocket for later.

Rukia watched the whole thing with blinking eyes. Part of her wanted to laugh; the other half couldn't help but feel bad for the Mod Soul. She also did have to remind herself that Ichigo and Kon didn't like each other very well.

"Talk about cruelty to animals," she finally said.

"You know he deserves it half the time," Ichigo shot back, already feeling the pill shaking in fury in his current form. "And yes I'm talking about you!" He shouted to his pocket.

He then swatted the pocket that contained the perverted pill, making the angry vibrating stopped.

"Sorry to tag along," Rukia told him, putting her hands behind her back, but still wearing her business look, "but you'll need me if a Hollow shows up."

"Actually, I'm grateful," Ichigo told her, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Rukia blinked as she was caught off guard, again. She had expected this to meet some resistance, but Ichigo had only shrugged his shoulders and said it was okay.

"But if it's not too much to ask, would you please keep your distance?" Ichigo continued, with a sad undertone staining his voice.

Rukia thought about for a second, but after a resigned sigh, she replied. "Alright, but if a Hollow shows up, I'll be there."

Ichigo shrugged. "I'm not going to be one to complain then."

Rukia spun around and began to leave, but turned to add something. "I still think you're an ass."

Then she was off before her partner could come back with something better. Ichigo sighed as he saw her disappear, taking a turn further down the stone path.

The future captain also began to do the same and head towards his family, but before he left, he looked over his back as he sensed a presence that he hadn't felt since his early days as a Shinigami, one forever instilled in his memory. Behind him stood Grand Fisher's deviously smiling marionette. He locked eyes with it, making sure to show the Hollow that he wasn't fooling anybody, but it only made the lure's smile widen.

After a short stare-down, Ichigo left, leaving his soon-to-be opponent. He needed to get things into place, and this included getting back to his sisters.

"How interesting," Grand Fisher told himself as he watched Ichigo disappear past the trees. "A Shinigami… This should be fun."

-0-

When Ichigo rejoined his family, Yuzu and Karin were already taking their turns giving their respects. Isshin was being his usual self and acting like an idiot.

As he walked by, Ichigo knocked his father out with a quick, hard hit to the head, but he figured it wouldn't take long before he woke up. At least his old man never saw the fist coming.

"Thanks," muttered Karin, as she held her hands in a prayer to her mother. "He was starting to get annoying."

"And I think he was starting to disrespect the dead," quipped Yuzu.

"I thought so, too," Ichigo told them with a smile as he came up. "The dead don't like to be disrespected." He knew that from experience.

He looked sadly at his sisters, who were blissfully unaware of his face as they stared at their mother's tombstone. It wouldn't be long until the fireworks started, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Ichigo didn't want to put his sisters in danger, not after having seen their dead bodies that day, but he wanted them to have a chance.

By the time Yuzu got done with giving her prayers, she had begun to cry and had left. Karin followed after to comfort her sister.

Ichigo watched his sisters as they left, and when they were gone, he moved over to the tombstone. He stood there just staring at it, quietly reminding himself that he had to protect everyone, and that he needed to look out for his sisters. This was his second chance, and he wouldn't waste it.

Isshin came up next to him, staring at his wife's grave after having recovered from his son's sucker-punch. He wasn't acting like an idiot for once; Ichigo could tell that it was because he was remembering the times he had with his wife.

"You okay?" Isshin asked him, still keeping his eyes on the headstone.

"Just a lot on my mind lately," Ichigo answered with a sigh.

The strawberry had to remind himself that his father had been a former captain-level Shinigami. It would only be natural that he would sense something was off with his son.

"You? Thinking?" Isshin asked him with humor in his voice. "That's not always a good thing."

"Yeah, well," Ichigo began, not helping it as his own amused smile crossed his face, "at least a catastrophe never happens when I think, unlike you."

"I'll call it a draw," his father told him, good-heartedly.

After another minute of silence, Ichigo looked over to the path where his two sisters ran off to. Now he was starting to get a little nervous. The time for Grand Fisher's attack was inching closer, and he wasn't sure if he should go now or later.

Thinking it better if he did, Ichigo turned around and began to follow the path that Yuzu and Karin took.

"Where you going?" Isshin asked, still keeping his attention on the grave.

"I'm just going to go and look for Yuzu and Karin," he quickly answered.

-0-

"Stop crying, Yuzu," Karin tried to comfort in her own way, though she herself was trying he best to keep it together. "We're eleven now; we're older than that."

The dark-haired Kurosaki was trying her best to placate her twin sister. She was sitting next to Yuzu, patting and rubbing her back as she quietly wept. Both of them sat on a step of a path that led to a large portion of the graveyard.

"I'm sorry, but…" Yuzu sniffed, "but it's so hard."

Karin had to agree. Growing up, they had been so dependent on their mother, but ever since she passed away, they were trying their best to cover the sadness that still festered. It was hard to not to cry in remembrance of someone they held so dear.

She wouldn't openly admit; she really did want to cry for her mother, but Karin wanted so much to stay strong like Ichigo did. He always held back the tears, even when it was tough not to.

Yuzu sniffed again, and then looked down at the stone path below her. Slowly, she tried to gather her thoughts and get it back together.

It stayed silent for the next couple of minutes, both of them reflecting on thoughts of their mother.

After what seemed like an eon, Karin looked up as a crow cawed in the distance. From where the bird had sounded, she could see another girl staring out into space, her clothes flapping as the wind blew past. But what shook the Kurosaki was the fact that the girl was on the edge of the cliff.

Out of panic, she stood up and began to run over.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Yuzu quickly asked, scrambling up and chasing after her sister.

"Get away from the cliff!" Karin shouted as she came over, distracting the girl that was there.

The mysterious girl looked over in shock as she heard someone yelling at her. Karin had stopped a small distance away, taking a breather and relaxing knowing that the girl wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"You… can see me?" the girl asked.

The dark-haired twin had made the mistake of nodding her head.

"Karin?" Yuzu tried to ask as she came up from behind, not seeing anything that her sister could. If she had to guess, it was just another ghost that Karin was seeing. The two being in a graveyard only supported this in her mind.

"You look… tasty," the girl said, now staring hungrily at the dark-haired twin.

Karin then noticed the blurry outline of a being appearing behind the girl. Her eyes widened as the thing came into being, revealing what looked like a hamster with a weird skull mask walking on feet that looked like they belonged to a chicken.

"Yuzu…!" she tried to warn, only to have a hand come crashing down on her before she could finish what she was going to say.

The redheaded girl watched with wide eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. She ran over to find out what was wrong, but just as she came over, a tentacle shot out of the thing's mask, grabbing her by the neck to choke her, holding Yuzu in the air.

"YUZU!" Karin shrieked, seeing her sister hanging in the air and struggling for breath.

"I won't eat her," Grand Fisher's marionette told her. "She doesn't have enough spiritual pressure to be tasty enough for me."

Yuzu began to cry as she began to blackout from a lack of oxygen. Just before she passed out, Fisher threw her away, right into a gravestone where she finally went unconscious as her head made contact with it.

With the pest gone, Fisher readied to eat Karin. His captive began to sweat as she realized that she was about to die.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glimmer approaching her and the monster at high speeds. Despite the fact that she was going to die, she couldn't help but turn her head slightly, allowing her to see a spinning blade coming at them at high speeds, whistling as it cut through the air. As Grand Fisher brought his mouth down to bite her, the thing lodged itself in his arm, revealing it to be the largest sword she'd ever seen.

The next second, someone grabbed her as Fisher let go, and then the two jumped away to safety. When she looked at her savior, her eyes lit up at the sight of her brother in full Shinigami garb, holding a second sword that was as large as the one that had impaled the Hollow's arm.

She looked back at Grand Fisher, watching as the Hollow gripped the arm with the sword sticking out of the wrist, screaming a couple of curses at the loss of his lunch. With anger, the distorted spirit grabbed the blade and threw it into a nearby gravestone.

Next to Karin, Ichigo flinched as he felt _Amemitsukai _in pain.

"You bastard!" Grand Fisher cursed him. "How dare you interrupt my meal!"

Ichigo was about to snap back at his enemy, but was stopped as he heard his little sister speaking. "Ichi-nii?"

He looked at Karin, finding her staring at him, full to the brim of questions that she wanted answered. The strawberry gave her a reassuring smile as he twirled _Zangetsu_ in the air.

"I'll take care of him," he reassured. "But you need to grab Yuzu, and find a safe spot."

She nodded and then ran over to the unconscious girl.

"No you don't!" Grand Fisher shouted, charging at Karin.

Before he could get to her, Ichigo got in the way, and pulled up his blade to block the charge. With a shove, Fisher went back the way he came, with the added bonus of extra distance.

"Don't touch my sisters," Ichigo warned dangerously.

When he saw that Karin had dragged Yuzu to safety, he held his blade out in front, getting into a stance that he favored when he was fighting with only one sword.

Looking around, he could see that he was too far away to grab _Amemitsukai_, which meant he needed to do this the old-fashion way and only use _Zangetsu_ until he got close enough to grab the other zanpakuto.

Earlier, when he had come into the area he had followed his sisters into, he had swallowed Kon into his mouth. Before the Mod Soul could pop-off any snide remarks, Ichigo grabbed his body by the throat and ordered Kon to go and find Rukia. Though, the annoyance threw a couple of cuss words out, he did as told. The only thing that the future captain didn't know was how long it was going to take before they showed up.

Stopping his musings, Ichigo watched as the skin on the lure unzipped itself, and then for it to reconnect to the puppeteer that controlled it by the use of a tendril.

"You're fighting the wrong opponent, Shinigami," Fisher warned, wearing a smile as if victory was already in his grasp.

"Funny," Ichigo countered, though, still wearing a dangerous look, "I was about to tell you the same, Hollow."

He watched Grand Fisher carefully as they both began to slowly circle each other, trying to find the perfect angle to attack first, or planning what was the best way to quickly take out the other.

Ichigo knew that he had to get rid of that lure before Karin or Yuzu took up the fight, otherwise it was going to be difficult for them. He also had another reason to worry about Grand Fisher: the Hollow could look into a person's memories. If he looked into Ichigo's, he'd panic and run for it.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Ichigo finished polishing out his plan, and then opened the fight. He charged forward with _Zangetsu_ pulled back for a slice, but just as he came within range, Fisher used his lure like a golf club, hitting the Shinigami into the air. The Hollow jumped after, but Ichigo blocked his initial claw swipe, and used Fisher's mask as a jumping platform while pushing spiritual pressure into his legs to launch his enemy into the ground below.

The future general of the Gotei Thirteen landed gracefully on the tip of a tall headstone, while Fisher crashed into the ground in a cloud of dust.

Ichigo clucked his tongue as Fisher pulled himself up. "I've seen slugs more intimidating than you!"

The future general then jumped out of the way as a spear made of fur came at him from the evasive spirit, turning the stone he formerly stood on into rubble. Another came at Ichigo as he landed, but with a quirk twirl of _Zangetsu_, he sliced through the hair whip and whatever ones that followed.

"You're good, Shinigami," Fisher sarcastically complimented, sending more of his spears of hair, "but you're still as cocky as hell!"

Ichigo had been concentrating on the hair so much that he didn't see the hyper-extended hand come at him. He only had a split second to realize that it had grabbed a hold of him before he was whipped through the air, and then through a large headstone. The Shinigami was then thrown into the air by the hand, and just as he could sense the nails making an appearance, he maneuvered to the side and hurriedly spliced the hand and then landed a distance away.

Grand Fisher quickly regenerated his hand, now taking his enemy more seriously than before. Across from him, Ichigo landed on the ground in a crouch, planning how to get at the lure and destroy it.

After a split-second of rest, Ichigo ran at the corrupted spirit, putting more speed into the attack than he normally allowed.

Caught off guard by the sudden increase in velocity, Grand Fisher didn't have any chance to form any spears of hair. He made an attempt to swipe at his opponent, but the substitute Shinigami did a front-flip to dodge the attack, and then used the Hollow's extended hand as a platform for a hand-stand. With one last jump, Ichigo pulled back his sword and swiped at the lure with enough force to slice it cleanly in two.

Ichigo smirked in satisfaction at the Hollow's cry of pain. As he landed on the ground, Fisher attempted to gain his revenge as he sent a fast moving spear of hair at him.

The strawberry couldn't help but smirk as everything he needed fell into place. He spun around to meet the attack, purposely missing it and allowing it to stab him in his stomach.

"ICHI-NII!" Karin shouted as she watched from behind the rock she and Yuzu were. The other twin was still out like a light.

With a grunt of pain, Ichigo cut the hair and then jumped almost seventy feet backwards towards his sister. He fell to one knee, holding his new wound. Thankfully, he had such dense spiritual pressure that the wound was shallow, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"You'll pay for that, Shinigami!" Fisher yelled, now angrier than hell.

Just as he was about to run at the recovering teen, one of his legs exploded in a fountain of blood. He hadn't seen Ichigo place one last cut when he had gotten into his guard earlier before. Angry, he tried limping over to him while cursing, all the while healing his leg as fast as possible.

Karin ran next to her brother as he pretended to struggle to get up. She grabbed his arm, hoping to help him up.

Ichigo had to admit, his plan was coming together beautifully.

"Karin," he quietly said, keeping his eyes on Fisher as he slowly approached. If the damn Hollow moved any faster, his plan would be botched right then and there. "Listen, I'm not sure if I can keep fighting, but I have an idea."

"What is it?" Karin asked, hoping that his plan would save them.

"I want you to stab yourself with my sword."

She tore her eyes away from the Hollow long enough to look at her brother as if he had grown two heads.

"Please trust me," he continued, keeping his wine-brown on eyes on Fisher. "I'll channel some of my strength into you, and you'll turn into a Shinigami like me. You might be able to defeat Grand Fisher that way."

The said Hollow was now within thirty feet of them, and it looked as if his leg was almost healed. Karin kept looking between the spirit and her brother, trying to figure what they were going to do. With a worried, but trusting, face, she nodded her head. Ichigo quickly handed her his sword, and she got it into position.

Upon seeing what they were going to do, Fisher charged at them with his mouth agape. Just as he got within range to bite both of them, Karin stabbed her self, throwing him backwards from an explosion of power as the two were engulfed in light. Fisher covered his eyes, waiting as the light slowly ebbed away. Clear of the obstruction to his view, Fisher's eyes widened.

There stood Karin, but she was different. Like her older brother, she was in full Shinigami garb, though much shorter than her older sibling. Twin chisakatana adorned her back, the sight of which made Ichigo's eyes widened.

'_She has a dual zanpakuto?'_ Ichigo mentally shouted in his mind.

He knew of only three people with a dual zanpakuto, and two of those men were captains. Anybody with a dual zanpakuto had incredible latent potential. Already, Ichigo was looking forward to see how far Karin would come as a Shinigami.

"Karin, look out!" shouted Ichigo, as Grand Fisher came crashing downward.

Both Shinigami leapt towards opposite directions. Karin pulled out both her swords while Ichigo twirled _Zangetsu_; Grand Fisher looked towards both combatants.

"I'll kill both of you!" he said. "I'll especially make your death slow!" The Hollow pointed a finger at Ichigo.

"Screw you!" Karin yelled as she charged forward.

"Wait, Karin!" Ichigo tried to yell, only for his words to fall on deaf ears.

Karin ducked under Fisher's spear of hair, but the Hollow's claw came downward, pinning her underneath. Fisher prepared his other claw, the nails readying to fire. Karin's eyes widened, but not from fear. Rather, Ichigo fell from above with his sword pulled back. Fisher, following Karin's gaze, quickly switched targets, firing his nails into Ichigo.

Ignoring the pain in his thigh and shoulder, Ichigo landed and cut Karin free causing Fisher to stumble back from the pain of his severed hand. The elder Kurosaki grabbed his sister and leapt back to safety.

'_I'll have to teach her a couple lessons about plans and patient,_' Ichigo thought, turning his attention back to Fisher.

Only after being given several seconds to go over the memories he received, Grand Fisher's eyes widened.

"This… This is impossible!" Fisher almost yelled, backing away slowly from the orange-haired monster. "W-What are you?"

He'd seen it all in the brief second he stabbed Ichigo. Everything. This wasn't a Shinigami. Even the word 'monster' couldn't aptly describe this… _being_.

"I'm a Shinigami," answered Ichigo, his eyes hardening.

With that, he charged forward at full speed and pulled back his zanpakuto. Grand Fisher was going to die!

"No, wait…!" Fisher tried to say.

He was interrupted by Ichigo with a voice that screamed for his destruction: "_Zangetsu!"_

The zanpakuto, as it swung into the Hollow, changed. In a burst of spiritual pressure, the area exploded in blue light.

"Ichigo-nii!" shouted Karin as she watched the explosion.

She waited with baited breath as the cloud of dust died down, revealing Ichigo standing victoriously over the crater, Grand Fisher long gone. On his shoulder, an almost elegant meat-cleaver was leaned against his shoulder, the loose binding flapping wildly in the dying wind.

Karin turned to the side as she felt someone's presence, finding the short girl from earlier that day. Her mouth was agape as she stared at Ichigo.

"No way…" she muttered in disbelief. "Is… that his Shikai?"

Ichigo could only smirk. His plan worked, if only partially. Karin was now a Shinigami, but Yuzu was still only human.

-0-

Later that evening, after everything died down and Rukia explained what a Shinigami was (damn those poorly drawn teddy bears!) while berating Ichigo for such a rash action, the strawberry found himself before his mother's grave. Inwardly, he could feel _Amemitsukai_ comforting him and _Zangetsu_ being polite and offering his own condolences; even _Shirosaki_ and his ever-flapping mouth was silent.

As he stared at the headstone, the rains around him danced sadly, like his mindscape when he was despairing. He was soaked to the bone, but he didn't mind; it was… almost comforting.

He briefly looked to his side as Isshin walked up next to him, a cigarette between his lips and an umbrella parting the rains.

Ichigo knew what he was going to say; it was almost the same thing he said last time. "You don't smoke."

Isshin chuckled. "Yeah, but you're mom thought it made me look cool."

They stayed in silence, comforting each other on a loss that happened so long ago. It seemed like ages to Ichigo since he saw his mother pass away.

"Please," Isshin said, pulling Ichigo from his thoughts, "protect your sisters."

This didn't happen last time. And it confirmed that Isshin had been aware of his fight with Grand Fisher the first time around. Yeah, things were changing.

"I promise I will," Ichigo said with conviction.

Author's Note: Well, I have bad news. I'm taking down Nevermore. But the good news is that it will be going back up by popular demand. The story will be rewritten to follow cannon more and to incorporate new information that the Kuto wrote.

I'm not sure how long the rewrite will take, but the chapters should come up fairly fast at first because it's merely rewriting what I have now. We'll see what happens next.


End file.
